Edge Computing and Internet of Things: Transforming the Future of Connectivity

Dear Colleagues,

The Internet of Things continues to expand at an unprecedented scale, with billions of interconnected sensors and devices generating massive streams of data across smart homes, industrial plants, transportation networks and urban infrastructures. While cloud computing has traditionally served as the backbone for Internet of Things data processing, its centralized nature often introduces unacceptable latency, high bandwidth demands and privacy concerns, particularly for time-critical or sensitive applications. Edge computing addresses these limitations by enabling data processing, analytics and decision-making directly at or near the source of data generation, thereby reducing reliance on distant data centers. The integration of edge computing and Internet of Things is rapidly transforming the future of connectivity, shifting it from mere data transmission toward intelligent, context-aware and autonomous interaction. This synergy supports a wide range of emerging applications, including real-time predictive maintenance in Industry 4.0, low-latency control in autonomous vehicles, privacy-preserving health monitoring and adaptive resource management in smart cities. Key research directions include the design of lightweight machine learning models for resource-constrained edge devices, efficient orchestration across edge-fog-cloud layers, energy-aware scheduling, secure and trustworthy data handling in distributed environments and standardized frameworks for interoperability. Although significant progress has been made in both edge computing and IoT individually, their co-design remains an active and evolving frontier. Existing literature often treats them as separate domains or focuses on narrow technical aspects, leaving gaps in holistic system architectures, real-world deployment experiences and cross-layer optimization strategies. This Special Issue aims to consolidate recent advances that bridge this gap, highlighting how the convergence of edge computing and Internet of Things is not only enhancing performance and scalability but also enabling new paradigms of responsive, sustainable and human-centric connectivity.

Dr. Hailiang Zhao
Dr. Kai Di
Guest Editors

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