Neuron-Inspired Communications for Energy Efficient Internet of Things Networks

Internet of Things devices are becoming a pervasive technology of the contemporary world. As the transceivers are typically battery-powered, their energy efficiency is crucial. This has to consider not only the spectral efficiency of the utilized modulation but also the energy consumption for reception, signal processing and keeping radio ON. The paradigms observed in human brains for communications between millions of closely distanced neurons can be utilized in wireless networks to improve communications energy efficiency. The paper presents the main features of brain communications and maps them to the closest solution in wireless communications technology. Multi-hop, low power, on-off keying transmission with diversity and sleep mode is proposed, as a neuron-inspired scheme. Its advantage is shown in numerical terms.