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Search Results (3,574)

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Keywords = IoT in security

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26 pages, 3535 KB  
Review
A Survey on Fault Detection of Solar Insecticidal Lamp Internet of Things: Recent Advance, Challenge, and Countermeasure
by Xing Yang, Zhengjie Wang, Lei Shu, Fan Yang, Xuanchen Guo and Xiaoyuan Jing
J. Sens. Actuator Netw. 2026, 15(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan15010011 (registering DOI) - 19 Jan 2026
Abstract
Ensuring food security requires innovative, sustainable pest management solutions. The Solar Insecticidal Lamp Internet of Things (SIL-IoT) represents such an advancement, yet its reliability in harsh, variable outdoor environments is compromised by frequent component and sensor faults, threatening effective pest control and data [...] Read more.
Ensuring food security requires innovative, sustainable pest management solutions. The Solar Insecticidal Lamp Internet of Things (SIL-IoT) represents such an advancement, yet its reliability in harsh, variable outdoor environments is compromised by frequent component and sensor faults, threatening effective pest control and data integrity. This paper presents a comprehensive survey on fault detection (FD) for SIL-IoT systems, systematically analyzing their unique challenges, including electromagnetic interference, resource constraints, data scarcity, and network instability. To address these challenges, we investigate countermeasures, including blind source separation for signal decomposition under interference, lightweight model techniques for edge deployment, and transfer/self-supervised learning for low-cost fault modeling across diverse agricultural scenarios. A dedicated case study, utilizing sensor fault data of SIL-IoT, demonstrates the efficacy of these approaches: an empirical mode decomposition-enhanced model achieved 97.89% accuracy, while a depthwise separable-based convolutional neural network variant reduced computational cost by 88.7% with comparable performance. This survey not only synthesizes the state of the art but also provides a structured framework and actionable insights for developing robust, efficient, and scalable FD solutions, thereby enhancing the operational reliability and sustainability of SIL-IoT systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fault Diagnosis in the Internet of Things Applications)
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24 pages, 3303 KB  
Article
Deep Learning-Based Human Activity Recognition Using Binary Ambient Sensors
by Qixuan Zhao, Alireza Ghasemi, Ahmed Saif and Lila Bossard
Electronics 2026, 15(2), 428; https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics15020428 - 19 Jan 2026
Abstract
Human Activity Recognition (HAR) has become crucial across various domains, including healthcare, smart homes, and security systems, owing to the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Several Machine Learning (ML) techniques, including Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), have [...] Read more.
Human Activity Recognition (HAR) has become crucial across various domains, including healthcare, smart homes, and security systems, owing to the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Several Machine Learning (ML) techniques, including Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), have been proposed for HAR. However, they are still deficient in addressing the challenges of noisy features and insufficient data. This paper introduces a novel approach to tackle these two challenges, employing a Deep Learning (DL) Ensemble-Based Stacking Neural Network (SNN) combined with Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for HAR based on ambient sensors. Our proposed deep learning ensemble-based approach outperforms traditional ML techniques and enables robust and reliable recognition of activities in real-world scenarios. Comprehensive experiments conducted on six benchmark datasets from the CASAS smart home project demonstrate that the proposed stacking framework achieves superior accuracy on five out of six datasets when compared to literature-reported state-of-the-art baselines, with improvements ranging from 3.36 to 39.21 percentage points and an average gain of 13.28 percentage points. Although the baseline marginally outperforms the proposed models on one dataset (Aruba) in terms of accuracy, this exception does not alter the overall trend of consistent performance gains across diverse environments. Statistical significance of these improvements is further confirmed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Moreover, the ASGAN-augmented models consistently improve macro-F1 performance over the corresponding baselines on five out of six datasets, while achieving comparable performance on the Milan dataset. The proposed GAN-based method further improves the activity recognition accuracy by a maximum of 4.77 percentage points, and an average of 1.28 percentage points compared to baseline models. By combining ensemble-based DL with GAN-generated synthetic data, a more robust and effective solution for ambient HAR addressing both accuracy and data imbalance challenges in real-world smart home settings is achieved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Computer Science & Engineering)
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42 pages, 5300 KB  
Article
An XGBoost-Based Intrusion Detection Framework with Interpretability Analysis for IoT Networks
by Yunwen Hu, Kun Xiao, Lei Luo and Lirong Chen
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(2), 980; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16020980 (registering DOI) - 18 Jan 2026
Abstract
With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT), Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDSs) play a critical role in securing modern networked environments. Despite advances in multi-class intrusion detection, existing approaches face challenges from high-dimensional heterogeneous traffic data, [...] Read more.
With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT), Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDSs) play a critical role in securing modern networked environments. Despite advances in multi-class intrusion detection, existing approaches face challenges from high-dimensional heterogeneous traffic data, severe class imbalance, and limited interpretability of high-performance “black-box” models. To address these issues, this study presents an XGBoost-based NIDSs integrating optimized strategies for feature dimensionality reduction and class balancing, alongside SHAP-based interpretability analysis. Feature reduction is investigated by comparing selection methods that preserve original features with generation methods that create transformed features, aiming to balance detection performance and computational efficiency. Class balancing techniques are evaluated to improve minority-class detection, particularly reducing false negatives for rare attack types. SHAP analysis reveals the model’s decision process and key feature contributions. The experimental results demonstrate that the method enhances multi-class detection performance while providing interpretability and computational efficiency, highlighting its potential for practical deployment in IoT security scenarios. Full article
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36 pages, 462 KB  
Review
Trustworthiness in Resource-Constrained IoT: Review and Taxonomy of Privacy-Enhancing Technologies and Anomaly Detection
by Madalin Neagu, Codruta Maria Serban, Anca Hangan and Gheorghe Sebestyen
Telecom 2026, 7(1), 10; https://doi.org/10.3390/telecom7010010 - 16 Jan 2026
Viewed by 172
Abstract
Resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices are increasingly deployed in critical domains but remain vulnerable to stealthy attacks that can bypass conventional defenses. At the same time, privacy constraints limit centralized data collection and processing, complicating anomaly detection. This systematic review surveys methods [...] Read more.
Resource-constrained Internet of Things (IoT) devices are increasingly deployed in critical domains but remain vulnerable to stealthy attacks that can bypass conventional defenses. At the same time, privacy constraints limit centralized data collection and processing, complicating anomaly detection. This systematic review surveys methods for privacy-preserving anomaly detection in resource-constrained IoT and introduces a five-dimension taxonomy covering deployment paradigms, resource constraints, real-time requirements, protection techniques, and communication constraints. We review how the literature measures and reports resource and privacy costs and identify three major gaps: (1) a shortage of co-designed detector-plus-privacy solutions tailored to constrained hardware, (2) inconsistent reporting of resource and privacy trade-offs, and (3) limited robustness against adaptive attackers and realistic deployment noise. We conclude with actionable recommendations and a prioritized research roadmap. Furthermore, the multi-dimensional taxonomy we introduce provides a structured framework to guide design choices and systematically improve the comparability, deployability, and overall trustworthiness of anomaly detection systems for constrained IoT. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Wireless Sensor Networks and Applications)
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21 pages, 1555 KB  
Article
Cyber Approach for DDoS Attack Detection Using Hybrid CNN-LSTM Model in IoT-Based Healthcare
by Mbarka Belhaj Mohamed, Dalenda Bouzidi, Manar Khalid Ibraheem, Abdullah Ali Jawad Al-Abadi and Ahmed Fakhfakh
Future Internet 2026, 18(1), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi18010052 - 15 Jan 2026
Viewed by 66
Abstract
Healthcare has been fundamentally changed by the expansion of IoT, which enables advanced diagnostics and continuous monitoring of patients outside clinical settings. Frequently interconnected medical devices often encounter resource limitations and lack comprehensive security safeguards. Therefore, such devices are prone to intrusions, with [...] Read more.
Healthcare has been fundamentally changed by the expansion of IoT, which enables advanced diagnostics and continuous monitoring of patients outside clinical settings. Frequently interconnected medical devices often encounter resource limitations and lack comprehensive security safeguards. Therefore, such devices are prone to intrusions, with DDoS attacks in particular threatening the integrity of vital infrastructure. To safe guard sensitive patient information and ensure the integrity and confidentiality of medical devices, this article explores the critical importance of robust security measures in healthcare IoT systems. In order to detect DDoS attacks in healthcare networks supported by WBSN-enabled IoT devices, we propose a hybrid detection model. The model utilizes the advantages of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks for modeling temporal dependencies in network traffic and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for extracting spatial features. The effectiveness of the model is demonstrated by simulation results on the CICDDoS2019 datasets, which indicate a detection accuracy of 99% and a loss of 0.05%, respectively. The evaluation results highlight the capability of the hybrid model to reliably detect potential anomalies, showing superior performance over leading contemporary methods in healthcare environments. Full article
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15 pages, 1607 KB  
Article
Using Steganography and Artificial Neural Network for Data Forensic Validation and Counter Image Deepfakes
by Matimu Caswell Nkuna, Ebenezer Esenogho and Ahmed Ali
Computers 2026, 15(1), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers15010061 - 15 Jan 2026
Viewed by 160
Abstract
The merging of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) advances has intensified challenges related to data authenticity and security. These advancements necessitate a multi-layered security approach to ensure the security, reliability, and integrity of critical infrastructure and intelligent surveillance systems. [...] Read more.
The merging of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) advances has intensified challenges related to data authenticity and security. These advancements necessitate a multi-layered security approach to ensure the security, reliability, and integrity of critical infrastructure and intelligent surveillance systems. This paper proposes a two-layered security approach that combines a discrete cosine transform least significant bit 2 (DCT-LSB-2) with artificial neural networks (ANNs) for data forensic validation and mitigating deepfakes. The proposed model encodes validation codes within the LSBs of cover images captured by an IoT camera on the sender side, leveraging the DCT approach to enhance the resilience against steganalysis. On the receiver side, a reverse DCT-LSB-2 process decodes the embedded validation code, which is subjected to authenticity verification by a pre-trained ANN model. The ANN validates the integrity of the decoded code and ensures that only device-originated, untampered images are accepted. The proposed framework achieved an average SSIM of 0.9927 across the entire investigated embedding capacity, ranging from 0 to 1.988 bpp. DCT-LSB-2 showed a stable Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (average 42.44 dB) under various evaluated payloads ranging from 0 to 100 kB. The proposed model achieved a resilient and robust multi-layered data forensic validation system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multimedia Data and Network Security)
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32 pages, 2775 KB  
Review
AIoT at the Frontline of Climate Change Management: Enabling Resilient, Adaptive, and Sustainable Smart Cities
by Claudia Banciu and Adrian Florea
Climate 2026, 14(1), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14010019 - 15 Jan 2026
Viewed by 103
Abstract
The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), known as Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), has emerged as a transformative paradigm for enabling intelligent, data-driven, and context-aware decision-making in urban environments to reduce the carbon footprint of mobility and [...] Read more.
The convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), known as Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), has emerged as a transformative paradigm for enabling intelligent, data-driven, and context-aware decision-making in urban environments to reduce the carbon footprint of mobility and industry. This review examines the conceptual foundations, and state-of-the-art developments of AIoT, with a particular emphasis on its applications in smart cities and its relevance to climate change management. AIoT integrates sensing, connectivity, and intelligent analytics to provide optimized solutions in transportation systems, energy management, waste collection, and environmental monitoring, directly influencing urban sustainability. Beyond urban efficiency, AIoT can play a critical role in addressing the global challenges and management of climate change by (a) precise measurements and autonomously remote monitoring; (b) real-time optimization in renewable energy distribution; and (c) developing prediction models for early warning of climate disasters. This paper performs a literature review and bibliometric analysis to identify the current landscape of AIoT research in smart city contexts. Over 1885 articles from Web of Sciences and over 1854 from Scopus databases, published between 1993 and January 2026, were analyzed. The results reveal a strong and accelerating growth in research activity, with publication output doubling in the most recent two years compared to 2023. Waste management and air quality monitoring have emerged as leading application domains, where AIoT-based optimization and predictive models demonstrate measurable improvements in operational efficiency and environmental impact. Altogether, these support faster and more effective decisions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring the sustainable use of resources. The reviewed studies reveal rapid advancements in edge intelligence, federated learning, and secure data sharing through the integration of AIoT with blockchain technologies. However, significant challenges remain regarding scalability, interoperability, privacy, ethical governance, and the effective translation of research outcomes into policy and citizen-oriented tools such as climate applications, insurance models, and disaster alert systems. By synthesizing current research trends, this article highlights the potential of AIoT to support sustainable, resilient, and citizen-centric smart city ecosystems while identifying both critical gaps and promising directions for future investigations. Full article
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16 pages, 2189 KB  
Article
The Butterfly Protocol: Secure Symmetric Key Exchange and Mutual Authentication via Remote QKD Nodes
by Sergejs Kozlovičs, Elīna Kalniņa, Juris Vīksna, Krišjānis Petručeņa and Edgars Rencis
Symmetry 2026, 18(1), 153; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym18010153 - 14 Jan 2026
Viewed by 117
Abstract
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a process to establish a symmetric key between two parties using the principles of quantum mechanics. Currently, commercial QKD systems are still expensive, they require specific infrastructure, and they are impractical for deployment in portable or resource-constrained devices. [...] Read more.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is a process to establish a symmetric key between two parties using the principles of quantum mechanics. Currently, commercial QKD systems are still expensive, they require specific infrastructure, and they are impractical for deployment in portable or resource-constrained devices. In this article, we introduce the Butterfly Protocol (and its extended version) that enables QKD to be offered as a service to non-QKD-capable (portable or IoT) devices. Our key contributions include (1) resilience to the compromise of any single classical link, (2) protection against malicious QKD users, (3) implicit mutual authentication between users without relying on large post-quantum certificates, and (4) the Double Butterfly extension, which secures communication even when the underlying QKD network cannot be fully trusted. We also demonstrate how to integrate the Butterfly Protocol into TLS 1.3 and provide its initial security analysis. We present preliminary performance results and discuss the main bottlenecks in the Butterfly Protocol implementation. We believe that our solution represents a practical step toward integrating QKD into classical networks and extending its use to portable devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Symmetry in Cryptography and Cybersecurity)
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12 pages, 2700 KB  
Proceeding Paper
A Low-Cost and Reliable IoT-Based NFT Hydroponics System Using ESP32 and MING Stack
by Tolga Demir and İhsan Çiçek
Eng. Proc. 2026, 122(1), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2026122003 - 14 Jan 2026
Viewed by 174
Abstract
This paper presents the design and implementation of an IoT-based automation system for indoor hydroponic plant cultivation using the Nutrient Film Technique. The system employs an ESP32-based controller with multiple sensors and actuators. These enable real-time monitoring and control of pH, TDS, temperature, [...] Read more.
This paper presents the design and implementation of an IoT-based automation system for indoor hydroponic plant cultivation using the Nutrient Film Technique. The system employs an ESP32-based controller with multiple sensors and actuators. These enable real-time monitoring and control of pH, TDS, temperature, humidity, light, tank level, and flow conditions. A modular five-layer architecture was developed. It combines the MING stack, which includes MQTT communication, InfluxDB time-series storage, Node-RED flow processing, and Grafana visualization. The system also includes a Flutter-based mobile app for remote access. Key features include temperature-compensated calibration, hysteresis-based control algorithms, dual-mode operation, TLS/ACL security, and automated alarm mechanisms. These features enhance reliability and safety. Experimental results showed stable pH/TDS regulation, dependable actuator and alarm responses, and secure long-term data logging. The proposed open-source and low-cost platform is scalable. It provides a solution for small-scale producers and urban farming, bridging the gap between academic prototypes and production-grade smart agriculture systems. In comparison to related works that mainly focus on monitoring, this study advances the state of the art. It combines continuous time-series logging, secure communication, flow verification, and integrated safety mechanisms to provide a reproducible testbed for future smart agriculture research. Full article
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15 pages, 3234 KB  
Article
Optically Transparent Frequency Selective Surfaces for Electromagnetic Shielding in Cybersecurity Applications
by Pierpaolo Usai, Gabriele Sabatini, Danilo Brizi and Agostino Monorchio
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(2), 821; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16020821 - 13 Jan 2026
Viewed by 277
Abstract
With the widespread diffusion of personal Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Electromagnetic Side-Channel Attacks (EM-SCAs), which exploit electromagnetic emissions to uncover critical data such as cryptographic keys, are becoming extremely common. Existing shielding approaches typically rely on bulky or opaque materials, which limit [...] Read more.
With the widespread diffusion of personal Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Electromagnetic Side-Channel Attacks (EM-SCAs), which exploit electromagnetic emissions to uncover critical data such as cryptographic keys, are becoming extremely common. Existing shielding approaches typically rely on bulky or opaque materials, which limit integration in modern IoT environments; this motivates the need for a transparent, lightweight, and easily integrable solution. Thus, to address this threat, we propose the use of electromagnetic metasurfaces with shielding capabilities, fabricated with an optically transparent conductive film. This film can be easily integrated into glass substrates, offering a novel and discrete shielding solution to traditional methods, which are typically based on opaque dielectric media. The paper presents two proof-of-concept case studies for shielding against EM-SCAs. The first one investigates the design and fabrication of a passive metasurface aimed at shielding emissions from chip processors in IoT devices. The metasurface is conceived to attenuate a specific frequency range, characteristic of the considered IoT processor, with a target attenuation of 30 dB. At the same time, the metasurface ensures that signals from 4G and 5G services are not affected, thus preserving normal wireless communication functioning. Conversely, the second case study introduces an active metasurface for dynamic shielding/transmission behavior, which can be modulated through diodes according to user requirements. This active metasurface is designed to block undesired electromagnetic emissions within the 150–465 MHz frequency range, which is a common band for screen gleaning security threats. The experimental results demonstrate an attenuation of approximately 10 dB across the frequency band when the shielding mode is activated, indicating a substantial reduction in signal transmission. Both the case studies highlight the potential of transparent metasurfaces for secure and dynamic electromagnetic shielding, suggesting their discrete integration in building windows or other environmental structural elements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cybersecurity: Novel Technologies and Applications)
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19 pages, 2512 KB  
Article
Fusion of Transformer and RBF for Anomalous Traffic Detection in Sensor Networks
by Aibing Dai, Jianwei Guo, Yuanyuan Hou and Yiou Wang
Sensors 2026, 26(2), 515; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26020515 - 13 Jan 2026
Viewed by 126
Abstract
With the widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart devices, the volume of data generated in sensor networks has increased dramatically, with diverse and structurally complex types that pose growing security risks. Anomaly detection in sensor networks has become a [...] Read more.
With the widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart devices, the volume of data generated in sensor networks has increased dramatically, with diverse and structurally complex types that pose growing security risks. Anomaly detection in sensor networks has become a key technology for ensuring system stability and secure operation. This paper proposes a sensor anomaly detection model, termed RESTADM, which integrates a Transformer and a Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural network. The model first employs the Transformer to effectively capture the temporal dependencies in sensor data and then uses the RBF neural network to accurately identify anomalies. Experimental results on two public benchmark datasets, SMD and PSM, demonstrate the state-of-the-art performance of RESTADM. Our model achieves impressive F1-scores of 98.56% on SMD and 97.70% on PSM. This represents a statistically significant improvement compared to a range of baseline algorithms, including traditional models like CNN and LSTM, as well as the standard Transformer model. This validates the effectiveness of our proposed Transformer-RBF fusion, confirming the model’s high accuracy and robustness and offering an efficient security solution for intelligent sensing systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Based on Sensing Technology)
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30 pages, 6746 KB  
Article
Securing IoT Networks Using Machine Learning-Resistant Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) on Edge Devices
by Abdul Manan Sheikh, Md. Rafiqul Islam, Mohamed Hadi Habaebi, Suriza Ahmad Zabidi, Athaur Rahman bin Najeeb and Mazhar Baloch
Network 2026, 6(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/network6010006 - 12 Jan 2026
Viewed by 142
Abstract
The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed global connectivity by linking people, smart devices, and data. However, as the number of connected devices continues to grow, ensuring secure data transmission and communication has become increasingly challenging. IoT security threats arise at the device [...] Read more.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has transformed global connectivity by linking people, smart devices, and data. However, as the number of connected devices continues to grow, ensuring secure data transmission and communication has become increasingly challenging. IoT security threats arise at the device level due to limited computing resources, mobility, and the large diversity of devices, as well as at the network level, where the use of varied protocols by different vendors introduces further vulnerabilities. Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) provide a lightweight, hardware-based security primitive that exploits inherent device-specific variations to ensure uniqueness, unpredictability, and enhanced protection of data and user privacy. Additionally, modeling attacks against PUF architectures is challenging due to the random and unpredictable physical variations inherent in their design, making it nearly impossible for attackers to accurately replicate their unique responses. This study collected approximately 80,000 Challenge Response Pairs (CRPs) from a Ring Oscillator (RO) PUF design to evaluate its resilience against modeling attacks. The predictive performance of five machine learning algorithms, i.e., Support Vector Machines, Logistic Regression, Artificial Neural Networks with a Multilayer Perceptron, K-Nearest Neighbors, and Gradient Boosting, was analyzed, and the results showed an average accuracy of approximately 60%, demonstrating the strong resistance of the RO PUF to these attacks. The NIST statistical test suite was applied to the CRP data of the RO PUF to evaluate its randomness quality. The p-values from the 15 statistical tests confirm that the CRP data exhibit true randomness, with most values exceeding the 0.01 threshold and supporting the null hypothesis of randomness. Full article
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25 pages, 540 KB  
Article
Pricing Incentive Mechanisms for Medical Data Sharing in the Internet of Things: A Three-Party Stackelberg Game Approach
by Dexin Zhu, Zhiqiang Zhou, Huanjie Zhang, Yang Chen, Yuanbo Li and Jun Zheng
Sensors 2026, 26(2), 488; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26020488 - 12 Jan 2026
Viewed by 234
Abstract
In the context of the rapid growth of the Internet of Things and mobile health services, sensors and smart wearable devices are continuously collecting and uploading dynamic health data. Together with the long-term accumulated electronic medical records and multi-source heterogeneous clinical data from [...] Read more.
In the context of the rapid growth of the Internet of Things and mobile health services, sensors and smart wearable devices are continuously collecting and uploading dynamic health data. Together with the long-term accumulated electronic medical records and multi-source heterogeneous clinical data from healthcare institutions, these data form the cornerstone of intelligent healthcare. In the context of medical data sharing, previous studies have mainly focused on privacy protection and secure data transmission, while relatively few have addressed the issue of incentive mechanisms. However, relying solely on technical means is insufficient to solve the problem of individuals’ willingness to share their data. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a three-party Stackelberg-game-based incentive mechanism for medical data sharing. The mechanism captures the hierarchical interactions among the intermediator, electronic device users, and data consumers. In this framework, the intermediator acts as the leader, setting the transaction fee; electronic device users serve as the first-level followers, determining the data price; and data consumers function as the second-level followers, deciding on the purchase volume. A social network externality is incorporated into the model to reflect the diffusion effect of data demand, and the optimal strategies and system equilibrium are derived through backward induction. Theoretical analysis and numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed mechanism effectively enhances users’ willingness to share data and improves the overall system utility, achieving a balanced benefit among the cloud platform, electronic device users, and data consumers. This study not only enriches the game-theoretic modeling approaches to medical data sharing but also provides practical insights for designing incentive mechanisms in IoT-based healthcare systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Biomedical Sensors)
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25 pages, 2007 KB  
Article
Symmetric–Asymmetric Security Synergy: A Quantum-Resilient Hybrid Blockchain Framework for Incognito IoT Data Sharing
by Chimeremma Sandra Amadi, Simeon Okechukwu Ajakwe and Taesoo Jun
Symmetry 2026, 18(1), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym18010142 - 10 Jan 2026
Viewed by 182
Abstract
Secure and auditable data sharing in large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) environments remains a significant challenge due to weak trust coordination, limited scalability, and susceptibility to emerging quantum attacks. This study introduces a hybrid blockchain-based framework that integrates post-quantum cryptography with intelligent anomaly [...] Read more.
Secure and auditable data sharing in large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) environments remains a significant challenge due to weak trust coordination, limited scalability, and susceptibility to emerging quantum attacks. This study introduces a hybrid blockchain-based framework that integrates post-quantum cryptography with intelligent anomaly detection to ensure end-to-end data integrity and resilience. The proposed system utilizes Hyperledger Fabric for permissioned device lifecycle management and Ethereum for public auditability of encrypted telemetry, thereby providing both private control and transparent verification. Device identities are established using quantum-entropy-seeded credentials and safeguarded with lattice-based encryption to withstand quantum adversaries. A convolutional long short-term memory (CNN–LSTM) model continuously monitors device behavior, facilitating real-time trust scoring and autonomous revocation via smart contract triggers. Experimental results demonstrate 97.4% anomaly detection accuracy and a 0.968 F1-score, supporting up to 1000 transactions per second with cross-chain latency below 6 s. These findings indicate that the proposed architecture delivers scalable, quantum-resilient, and computationally efficient data sharing suitable for mission-critical IoT deployments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications Based on Symmetry in Quantum Computing)
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28 pages, 2058 KB  
Article
Tiny Language Model Guided Flow Q Learning for Optimal Task Scheduling in Fog Computing
by Bhargavi K and Sajjan G. Shiva
Algorithms 2026, 19(1), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/a19010060 - 10 Jan 2026
Viewed by 138
Abstract
Fog computing is one of the rapidly growing platforms with an exponentially increasing demand for real-time data processing. The fog computing market is expected to reach USD 8358 million by the year 2030 with a compound annual growth of 50%. The wide adaptation [...] Read more.
Fog computing is one of the rapidly growing platforms with an exponentially increasing demand for real-time data processing. The fog computing market is expected to reach USD 8358 million by the year 2030 with a compound annual growth of 50%. The wide adaptation of fog computing by the industries worldwide is due to the advantages like reduced latency, high operational efficiency, and high-level data privacy. The highly distributed and heterogeneous nature of fog computing leads to significant challenges related to resource management, data security, task scheduling, data privacy, and interoperability. The task typically represents a job generated by the IoT device. The action indicates the way of executing the tasks whose decision is taken by the scheduler. Task scheduling is one of the prominent issues in fog computing which includes the process of effectively scheduling the tasks among fog devices to effectively utilize the resources and meet the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of the applications. Improper task scheduling leads to increased execution time, overutilization of resources, data loss, and poor scalability. Hence there is a need to do proper task scheduling to make optimal task distribution decisions in a highly dynamic resource-constrained heterogeneous fog computing environment. Flow Q learning (FQL) is a potential form of reinforcement learning algorithm which uses the flow matching policy for action distribution. It can handle complex forms of data and multimodal action distribution which make it suitable for the highly volatile fog computing environment. However, flow Q learning struggles to achieve a proper trade-off between the expressive flow model and a reduction in the Q function, as it relies on a one-step optimization policy that introduces bias into the estimated Q function value. The Tiny Language Model (TLM) is a significantly smaller form of a Large Language Model (LLM) which is designed to operate over the device-constrained environment. It can provide fair and systematic guidance to disproportionally biased deep learning models. In this paper a novel TLM guided flow Q learning framework is designed to address the task scheduling problem in fog computing. The neutrality and fine-tuning capability of the TLM is combined with the quick generable ability of the FQL algorithm. The framework is simulated using the Simcan2Fog simulator considering the dynamic nature of fog environment under finite and infinite resources. The performance is found to be good with respect to parameters like execution time, accuracy, response time, and latency. Further the results obtained are validated using the expected value analysis method which is found to be satisfactory. Full article
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