Next-Generation IoT Ecosystems: Methods, Challenges and Prospects
A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Internet of Things".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 December 2026 | Viewed by 1010
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cloud/edge computing; Internet of Things; IoT security and privacy; cognitive computing; parallel and distributed computing; IoT trust management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: IoT and cloud ecosystems; applied AI; big data analytics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The rapid evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) has been shaped by the convergence of cloud, edge, and fog computing, enabling scalable, distributed, and intelligent infrastructures. With the integration of Applied Artificial Intelligence (AI), new opportunities are emerging across diverse domains such as smart cities, healthcare, and agriculture. Applied AI enhances IoT ecosystems by empowering security frameworks, vision-based analytics, robotics, and digital twin technologies, thus driving innovation toward more sustainable and resilient societies.
This Special Issue aims to provide a platform for cutting-edge research contributions at the intersection of IoT architectures and AI-driven intelligence. We seek original research, surveys, and application-driven studies that explore novel methodologies, system designs, and case studies leveraging IoT layer synergies with AI. The focus is on advancing next-generation IoT ecosystems where applied AI plays a central role in addressing challenges of scalability, latency, trust, and cross-domain integration.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Cloud, edge, and fog computing architectures for scalable and distributed IoT ecosystems;
- Emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning solutions for IoT data analytics and decision making;
- Security, privacy, and trust mechanisms in next-generation IoT with AI integration;
- Computer vision applications in IoT-enabled environments;
- Crowdsensing and intelligent data acquisition in cloud/IoT systems;
- Robotics and autonomous systems powered by AI in IoT applications;
- Digital twin solutions for real-time monitoring and predictive decision making;
- Resource management, scheduling, and energy efficiency in cloud–edge–fog computing for IoT;
- Cross-domain applications of AI-enabled IoT in smart cities, healthcare, agriculture, and Industry 4.0/5.0.
We welcome contributions that present theoretical foundations, practical implementations, and cross-disciplinary applications, with an emphasis on solutions that enable intelligent services for real-world environments.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Khafajiy
Dr. Saeid Pourroostaei Ardakani
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- next-generation IoT ecosystems
- cloud–edge–fog computing
- applied Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- security and privacy in IoT
- computer vision and intelligent sensing
- robotics and autonomous systems
- digital twin technologies
- smart cities, healthcare, and agriculture applications
- AI-driven IoT architectures
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