Multi-Service Cloud-Based IoT Platforms

Dear Colleagues,

Seen as another information and industrial wave, the Internet of things (IoT) finds wide application in multiple domains. For the provision of IoT services, the use of suitable IoT platforms is required, allowing a transparent connection with different types of IoT devices and offering (value-added) functionalities, such as application enablement, remote device control and management, telco/dew/fog/cloud connectivity and storage management, “big data” analytics and visualization, and so on, with some sort of freedom of use by and customization to users.

Following the novel horizontal design principles, which counter the former vertical/silo ones, a new horizontal type of IoT platforms has emerged that, by using the integration and interoperability principles, can simplify the existing IoT environment by eliminating duplicate solutions, enable inter-technology operation, and generate new IoT services and business opportunities. With this new approach, a service/application/network provider is enabled to deliver a complete horizontal-slice solution, applied to not just one but multiple IoT domains, meeting by the flexibility, scalability, cost-efficiency, and multi-purpose use requirements, with easy and timely adjustment of its operation to new use cases and scenarios, and with efficient management and control of the entire IoT ecosystem throughout its lifetime.

The aim of this Special Issue of Electronics is to present state-of-the-art R&D efforts in building multi-service cloud-based IoT platforms of horizontal type, applicable to different IoT domains. We invite scholars to contribute original and unique research articles, as well as review articles.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Generic solutions for the development of IoT platforms.
• Cost-efficient methods for building IoT platforms.
• Horizontal-slice IoT platform solutions.
• Multi-service oriented IoT platforms.
• Cloud-based IoT platforms.
• IoT platforms supporting heterogeneous-type communications.
• IoT platforms supporting heterogeneous-type data exchange.
• Flexible, scalable, and easily expandable IoT platforms.
• Multi-purpose IoT platforms.
• Easy adjustable IoT platforms to new use cases and scenarios.
• Open-source IoT platforms.
• IoT platforms with open APIs.
• IoT platforms with open data.
• IoT platforms with open layers.
• (open) Standard-based IoT platforms.

Prof. Dr. Ivan Ganchev
Dr. Máirtín O'Droma
Prof. Dr. Zhanlin Ji
Guest Editors

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