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Wireless Communication Technologies for Internet of Things and Wireless Sensor Networks

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Internet of Things".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 December 2025 | Viewed by 2808

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Public Big Data, Guizhou University, Guiyang, China
Interests: edge intelligence; communication networks; wireless communications; metaverse; Internet of Things

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Guest Editor
College of Computer Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China
Interests: Internet of Things; resource allocation; edge computing; wireless communications; network security

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Guest Editor
School of Mechanical Engineering, The Internet of Things Center, Guizhou University, Guizhou 550025, China
Interests: Internet of Things; wireless sensor networks; intelligent manufacturing engineering; low-altitude economy networking

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Guest Editor Assistant
State Key Laboratory of Public Big Data, Guizhou University, Guizhou, China
Interests: AI planning; resource allocation; UAV-assisted wireless communications

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the arrival of the sixth-generation (6G) communications era, marked by ubiquitous connectivity, extremely low latency, and ultrahigh reliability, the future landscape of the Internet of Things (IoT) is undergoing significant changes, increasing interest in utilizing emerging wireless communication technologies in multi-domain sensing applications. Evolving IoT and wireless sensor networks are bolstered by diverse technologies, e.g., UAV, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), and integrated sensing and communication (ISAC). Progress in the combination of these technologies has opened up new opportunities to enhance network performance. Moreover, to meet the demands of emerging application scenarios, new technologies and frameworks are required for IoT and wireless sensor networks.

This Special Issue will delve deeply into these challenges and opportunities, inviting contributions to theoretical advancements, technological solutions, and case studies that support various applications for facilitating the development of IoT and wireless sensor networks. Potential topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. UAV-assisted IoT and wireless sensor networks;
  2. GenAI-assisted IoT and wireless sensor networks;
  3. ISAC framework in IoT and wireless sensor networks;
  4. Security and privacy of IoT and wireless sensor networks;
  5. Performance analysis/optimization for IoT and wireless sensor networks;
  6. Centralized/distributed machine learning for IoT and wireless sensor networks;
  7. Testbed and real-world evaluation of IoT and wireless sensor networks;
  8. Algorithm design and evaluation in IoT and wireless sensor networks.

Prof. Dr. Jianhang Tang
Dr. Yang Zhang
Prof. Dr. Shaobo Li
Guest Editors

Dr. Kebing Jin
Guest Editors Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Internet of Things
  • wireless sensor networks
  • artificial intelligence
  • generative artificial intelligence
  • UAV
  • security and privacy
  • resource allocation

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 2971 KiB  
Article
Cooperative Schemes for Joint Latency and Energy Consumption Minimization in UAV-MEC Networks
by Ming Cheng, Saifei He, Yijin Pan, Min Lin and Wei-Ping Zhu
Sensors 2025, 25(17), 5234; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25175234 - 22 Aug 2025
Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) has promoted emerging applications that require massive device collaboration, heavy computation, and stringent latency. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted mobile edge computing (MEC) systems can provide flexible services for user devices (UDs) with wide coverage. The optimization of both [...] Read more.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has promoted emerging applications that require massive device collaboration, heavy computation, and stringent latency. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-assisted mobile edge computing (MEC) systems can provide flexible services for user devices (UDs) with wide coverage. The optimization of both latency and energy consumption remains a critical yet challenging task due to the inherent trade-off between them. Joint association, offloading, and computing resource allocation are essential to achieving satisfying system performance. However, these processes are difficult due to the highly dynamic environment and the exponentially increasing complexity of large-scale networks. To address these challenges, we introduce a carefully designed cost function to balance the latency and the energy consumption, formulate the joint problem into a partially observable Markov decision process, and propose two multi-agent deep-reinforcement-learning-based schemes to tackle the long-term problem. Specifically, the multi-agent proximal policy optimization (MAPPO)-based scheme uses centralized learning and decentralized execution, while the closed-form enhanced multi-armed bandit (CF-MAB)-based scheme decouples association from offloading and computing resource allocation. In both schemes, UDs act as independent agents that learn from environmental interactions and historic decisions, make decision to maximize its individual reward function, and achieve implicit collaboration through the reward mechanism. The numerical results validate the effectiveness and show the superiority of our proposed schemes. The MAPPO-based scheme enables collaborative agent decisions for high performance in complex dynamic environments, while the CF-MAB-based scheme supports independent rapid response decisions. Full article
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23 pages, 4594 KiB  
Article
Minimization of Resource Consumption with URLLC Constraints for Relay-Assisted IIoT
by Yujie Zhao, Tao Peng, Yichen Guo, Yijing Niu and Wenbo Wang
Sensors 2025, 25(15), 4846; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154846 - 6 Aug 2025
Viewed by 258
Abstract
In relay-assisted Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) systems with ultra-reliable low-latency communication (uRLLC) requirements, finite blocklength coding imposes stringent resource constraints. In this work, the packet error probability (PEP) and blocklength allocation across two-hop links are jointly optimized to minimize total blocklength (resource [...] Read more.
In relay-assisted Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) systems with ultra-reliable low-latency communication (uRLLC) requirements, finite blocklength coding imposes stringent resource constraints. In this work, the packet error probability (PEP) and blocklength allocation across two-hop links are jointly optimized to minimize total blocklength (resource consumption) while satisfying reliability, latency, and throughput requirements. The original multi-variable problem is decomposed into two tractable subproblems. In the first subproblem, for a fixed total blocklength, the achievable rate is maximized. A near-optimal PEP is first derived via theoretical analysis. Subsequently, theoretical analysis proves that blocklength must be optimized to equalize the achievable rates between the two hops to maximize system performance. Consequently, the closed-form solution to optimal blocklength allocation is derived. In the second subproblem, the total blocklength is minimized via a bisection search method. Simulation results show that by adopting near-optimal PEPs, our approach reduces computation time by two orders of magnitude while limiting the achievable rate loss to within 1% compared to the exhaustive search method. At peak rates, the hop with superior channel conditions requires fewer resources. Compared with three baseline algorithms, the proposed algorithm achieves average resource savings of 21.40%, 14.03%, and 17.18%, respectively. Full article
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22 pages, 2449 KiB  
Article
Tracking Consensus for Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems Under Asynchronous Switching and Undirected Topology
by Shanyan Hu and Mengling Wang
Sensors 2025, 25(15), 4760; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154760 - 1 Aug 2025
Viewed by 446
Abstract
This paper investigates the tracking consensus of nonlinear multi-agent systems under undirected topology, considering asynchronous switching caused by delays between communication topology switching and controller switching. First, by using the properties of undirected topology graphs, the controller design process is simplified. Then, to [...] Read more.
This paper investigates the tracking consensus of nonlinear multi-agent systems under undirected topology, considering asynchronous switching caused by delays between communication topology switching and controller switching. First, by using the properties of undirected topology graphs, the controller design process is simplified. Then, to address asynchronous delays during topology switching, the system operation is divided into synchronized and delayed modes based on the status of the controller and topology. Every operating mode has a corresponding control strategy. To alleviate the burden of communication and computation, an event-triggered mechanism (ETM) is introduced to reduce the number of controller updates. By constructing an augmented Lyapunov function that incorporates both matching and mismatching periods, sufficient conditions ensuring system stability are established. The required controller based on the dynamic ETM is obtained by solving Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs). Finally, a simulation example is conducted to verify its effectiveness. Full article
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13 pages, 1217 KiB  
Article
Optimization Scheme for Modulation of Data Transmission Module in Endoscopic Capsule
by Meiyuan Miao, Chen Ye, Zhiping Xu, Laiding Zhao and Jiafeng Yao
Sensors 2025, 25(15), 4738; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25154738 - 31 Jul 2025
Viewed by 233
Abstract
The endoscopic capsule is a miniaturized device used for medical diagnosis, which is less invasive compared to traditional gastrointestinal endoscopy and can reduce patient discomfort. However, it faces challenges in communication transmission, such as high power consumption, serious signal interference, and low data [...] Read more.
The endoscopic capsule is a miniaturized device used for medical diagnosis, which is less invasive compared to traditional gastrointestinal endoscopy and can reduce patient discomfort. However, it faces challenges in communication transmission, such as high power consumption, serious signal interference, and low data transmission rate. To address these issues, this paper proposes an optimized modulation scheme that is low-cost, low-power, and robust in harsh environments, aiming to improve its transmission rate. The scheme is analyzed in terms of the in-body channel. The analysis and discussion for the scheme in wireless body area networks (WBANs) are divided into three aspects: bit error rate (BER) performance, energy efficiency (EE), and spectrum efficiency (SE), and complexity. These correspond to the following issues: transmission rate, communication quality, and low power consumption. The results demonstrate that the optimized scheme is more suitable for improving the communication performance of endoscopic capsules. Full article
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23 pages, 6190 KiB  
Article
Novel 3D UAV Path Planning for IoT Services Based on Interactive Cylindrical Vector Teaching–Learning Optimization Algorithm
by Xinghe Jiang, Xuanyu Wu, Zhifeng Zhang, Zhaoxi Hong, Xi Xiao and Yixiong Feng
Sensors 2025, 25(8), 2407; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25082407 - 10 Apr 2025
Viewed by 732
Abstract
In the 6G-IoT convergence ecosystem, UAV path planning for static environments is systematically investigated as a resource coordination problem where communication demands and terrain constraints are balanced through intelligent trajectory optimization. The innovation of this paper lies in the proposal of an interactive [...] Read more.
In the 6G-IoT convergence ecosystem, UAV path planning for static environments is systematically investigated as a resource coordination problem where communication demands and terrain constraints are balanced through intelligent trajectory optimization. The innovation of this paper lies in the proposal of an interactive cylinder vector teaching–learning-based optimization (ICVTLBO) algorithm, where UAV trajectory points are represented in cylindrical coordinates, and targeted interactive strategies are proposed during the teacher and learner phases to address uncertainty challenges, such as terrain elevation fluctuations and communication link instability caused by obstacles in static environments. The ICVTLBO is compared with other classical and novel algorithms on the CEC2022 benchmark function suite, demonstrating its effectiveness and reliability in solving complex optimization problems. Subsequently, real digital elevation model (DEM) maps are utilized to establish nine diverse terrain scenarios for the simulation of 3D UAV path planning challenges, and experimental results show that the ICVTLBO outperforms other methods, providing high-quality paths for UAVs in complex environments. Full article
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17 pages, 1688 KiB  
Article
Privacy-Preserving Multi-User Graph Intersection Scheme for Wireless Communications in Cloud-Assisted Internet of Things
by Shumei Yang
Sensors 2025, 25(6), 1892; https://doi.org/10.3390/s25061892 - 18 Mar 2025
Viewed by 398
Abstract
Cloud-assisted Internet of Things (IoT) has become the core infrastructure of smart society since it solves the computational power, storage, and collaboration bottlenecks of traditional IoT through resource decoupling and capability complementarity. The development of a graph database and cloud-assisted IoT promotes the [...] Read more.
Cloud-assisted Internet of Things (IoT) has become the core infrastructure of smart society since it solves the computational power, storage, and collaboration bottlenecks of traditional IoT through resource decoupling and capability complementarity. The development of a graph database and cloud-assisted IoT promotes the research of privacy preserving graph computation. We propose a secure graph intersection scheme that supports multi-user intersection queries in cloud-assisted IoT in this article. The existing work on graph encryption for intersection queries is designed for a single user, which will bring high computational and communication costs for data owners, or cause the risk of secret key leaking if directly applied to multi-user scenarios. To solve these problems, we employ the proxy re-encryption (PRE) that transforms the encrypted graph data with a re-encryption key to enable the graph intersection results to be decrypted by an authorized IoT user using their own private key, while data owners only encrypt their graph data on IoT devices once. In our scheme, different IoT users can query for the intersection of graphs flexibly, while data owners do not need to perform encryption operations every time an IoT user makes a query. Theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the graph intersection scheme in this paper is secure and practical. Full article
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