Chemo-hydrodynamic transceivers for the internet of Bio-Nano things

Abstract

The Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) requires mobile nanomachines that navigate fluidic environments while exchanging molecular signals under external control. We propose a chemo-hydrodynamic transceiver for catalytic Janus particles in which a single optical input jointly controls molecular emission and self-propulsion, unlike standard models that decouple communication from mobility. The resulting stochastic channel contains an actuation-dependent variance term scaling as I4, which creates a non-monotonic reliability trade-off. Stronger actuation increases emission but also amplifies motion-induced fading. In a reduced single-link setting, exact-BEP analysis reveals a finite optimal actuation level, and comparison with Brownian-mobility baselines shows that neglecting active motility can markedly underestimate BEP, especially at high actuation and short link distances. These results provide physical-layer guidance for mobility-aware actuation and link design in IoBNT.