Interoperable Nanoscale Communication [Future Directions]

Nanoscale communication fills a gap, namely, ad hoc communication among entities whose length scale is on the order of nanometers. These entities may be entirely synthetic, but in practice they have more often involved machine communication with small-scale biological entities, namely, subcellular components. Communication directly with and through neurons is a prime example. However, prior to the IEEE 1906.1-2015 standard, there was no clear and consistent definition of nanoscale communication because it encompasses a broad set of disciplines nor were the research results interoperable or even directly usable by others to build upon. The IEEE 1906.1-2015 standard has helped to alleviate this problem by defining a conceptual model, practical framework, and common metrics that allow industry and research to speak a common language and to develop interoperable simulations and hardware components without constraining innovation or creativity. The developers of the standard realize that this is an emerging technology and that new ideas and inventions that leverage change in length scale for communication have yet to be developed.