CNN-Based Detection of Mixed-Molecule Concentrations in Molecular Communication

Molecular communication (MC) is a promising paradigm for applications where traditional electromagnetic communications are impractical. However, decoding chemical signals, especially in multi-transmitter systems, remains a key challenge due to interference and complex propagation dynamics. In this paper, we develop a one-dimensional fractal convolutional neural network (fCNN) to detect the concentrations of multiple types of molecules based on the absorbance spectra measured at a receiver. Our model is trained by both experimental and simulated datasets, with the latter enhanced by noise modeling to mimic real-world measurements. We demonstrate that a noise-augmented simulated dataset can effectively be a substitute for experimental data, achieving similar decoding accuracy. Our approach successfully detects bit sequences in both binary and quadruple concentration shift keying (BCSK and QCSK) scenarios, even when transmitters are desynchronized, highlighting the potential of machine learning for robust MC signal detection.