New series presents research to address Internet of Things concerns

A phone’s alarm wakes a person up. They turn off the alarm and start playing their morning playlist casted to a Bluetooth speaker as they get ready. As they leave the house, they use their phone to start their car. The house door automatically locks behind them, with their “away protocol” activating specific safety mechanisms, like security systems and a doorbell camera. And since their phone automatically connects with their car, their playlist continues seamlessly playing. This person lives — like many of us now — in the Internet of Things.

Coined in 1999, the Internet of Things refers to the short-range communications that allow people to effectively communicate with their things, like phones, lights, locks and more. The concept also comprises how these things communicate with one another. As the number and types of things grow, as well as the manner in which they are used, so do safety concerns, according to Lianyong Qi, professor in the College of Computer Science and Technology in the China University of Petroleum, who researches big data and recommender systems, which use artificial intelligence to suggest products to consumers.

Qi penned an editorial for a new series of research papers detailing how to address such issues in a special issue of Intelligent and Converged Networks, a journal of co-published by Tsinghua University Press and the International Telecommunication Union, an agency of the United Nations focused on information and communication technology. The collection, published on JUNE 30th, is titled “Series on Intelligent Data Analysis and Protection for Smart Internet of Things.”

“The development of the Internet of Things has significantly transformed our way of life in multiple aspects, including entertainment, sports, agriculture, manufacturing and more,” Qi said, explaining that the Internet of Things results in virtually limitless data generated by a large number of computing devices, sensors and infrastructure connected via the internet. “Effectively and efficiently processing, analyzing and mining these data have become a realistic challenge that requires in-depth research.”

To highlight the work addressing this challenge, the journal put out a call to the international research community. Six papers were ultimately selected to represent the breadth and depth of research endeavors in this area.

“Our goal was to attract high-quality, original research papers on the Internet of Things data analysis and protection,” Qi said. “We received many enthusiastic responses from both the academic and industrial communities, with many opinion letters coming from the most renowned research groups in this field. After a rigorous review process, we selected six papers based on their merits, such as innovation and technical relevance.”

The research papers detail investigations and propose solutions to such challenges as how to retrieve video data with textual queries (DOI: 10.23919/ICN.2023.0009); the displacement demand of industrial robots in manufacturing (DOI: 10.23919/ICN.2023.0011); the severity of misclassification errors when it comes to cybersecurity (DOI: 10.23919/ICN.2023.0012); how best to store data (DOI: 10.23919/ICN.2023.0014); regulating media data dissemination with multi-platform content sharing (DOI: 10.23919/ICN.2023.0015); and developing more consistent, safe and reliable data sharing (DOI: 10.23919/ICN.2023.0016). Qi noted that, when appropriate, the researchers also offered potential policy recommendations for how to govern the expanding Internet of Things.

“We would like to express our gratitude to all the authors who have contributed invaluable co-occurrences to this series,” Qi said, extending his thanks to the series’ reviewers as well as the journal’s editorial board and editor-in-chief, Jain Song, for their encouragement. “They have provided a fascinating glimpse into the ongoing research in the field of Internet of Things data analysis and security, providing valuable research for reviewers, editors and, most importantly, the readers.”

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About Intelligent and Converged Networks

Intelligent and Converged Networks is an international specialized journal that focuses on the latest developments in communication technology. The journal is co-published by Tsinghua University Press (TUP) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technology (ICT). Intelligent and Converged Networks draws its name from the accelerating convergence of different fields of communication technology and the growing influence of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

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