Internet of Things, Big Data, and Cloud Computing for Healthcare 4.0

Dear Colleagues,

Alongside digital transformation, technologies such as big data, IoT and cloud computing have become a necessity for the management of many issues in our daily lives, including transportation, industry, business and, most importantly, healthcare. Over time, these three distinct technologies have become increasingly intertwined and integrated despite the independence and temporal variance in their development.

The concepts of big data and IoT were developed years ago, although their mainstream application has only recently been adopted. With the further adaptation and development of these technologies, it is becoming increasingly certain that the technologies' capabilities can be aligned with many aspects of our daily lives.

The main requirement of big data is the adoption of IoT and cloud systems. In IoT systems, the amount of big data has obviously increased, whereas the adoption of IoT and big data necessitates a move towards cloud services.

On the other hand, the integration of these three technologies has led to the dependence of interconnected devices and their generated information.  We are moving from product-based to information-based outcomes.

Cloud computing, IoT and big data technologies assist researchers in gathering, analyzing, storing and prescribing healthcare-related data to determine appropriate treatments and medications.  For example, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the exploitation of these technologies in the search for global healthcare solutions became crucial.

The use of big data has enormous possibilities to enhance the healthcare industry, in which big data platforms are used to collect billions of data points which can be utilized for the management of numerous essential areas of health, while the usage of Internet of Things (IoT) systems in healthcare can eliminate hindrances preventing patients from receiving care at suitable times.

The analysis of health-related data provides essential opportunities to support healthy actions and help healthcare suppliers in advising people outside the clinic. Furthermore, analytical outcomes can shape researchers’ conclusions, which guide patients’ behavior as and can offer ways in which individuals can develop and maintain healthy attitudes.

In conclusion, the adoption of IoT, big data, and cloud computing can provide new opportunities and applications in all healthcare sectors. Most researchers and experts believe that the combined exploitation of these technologies can offer the potential to revolutionize the solutions required for many aspects of society's healthcare systems. However, technical challenges such as security issues, DevOp skills, and infrastructure requirements need to be addressed prior to the realization of their potential.

Recently, considerable advancements have been made in the adoption of these three technologies in terms of the therapy and management of different diseases, increasing life expectancy, gaining proper experience for healthy behavior, and improving the overall quality of human life.

Suggested themes include, but are not limited to:

• Big data analysis for healthcare in the cloud;
• Obstacles of IoT data analysis for healthcare;
• Infection avoidance by utilizing healthcare data analysis;
• The use of wearable devices to monitor the health of elderly people;
• Improved patient predictions using data analysis;
• Reductions in fraud and enhancements in security of IoT-based healthcare systems.

Dr. Zakariya Y. Algamal
Guest Editor

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• big data
• data analysis
• IoT
• machine learning
• data visualization
• cloud computing
• healthcare data