Call for Articles

The Internet of Things Magazine (IoTM) publishes high-quality articles on IoT technology and end-to-end IoT solutions. IoTM articles are written by and for practitioners and researchers interested in practice and applications, and selected to represent the depth and breadth of the state of the art. The technical focus of IoTM is the multi-disciplinary, systems nature of IoT solutions. IoTM is the top forum for practitioners to share experiences, develop best practices, and establish guiding principles for technical, operational and business success.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is having a revolutionary impact on industries and society as a whole.  IoT devices enable sensing and control of industrial processes at very fine resolution, enabling new levels of resource optimization and efficiency.  IoT technology embedded within cars, truck, locomotives, and aircraft are reducing maintenance costs and improving transportation safety by monitoring the operation of critical components and alerting owners, drivers, and maintenance technicians when maintenance, repair, or replacement is required.  IoT is enabling smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, and smart regions that more effectively and efficiently meet the needs of occupants and citizens.  On a personal level, IoT-based sensors provide customized health and fitness monitoring, letting users balance caloric intake and output, for example.

One of the greatest challenges facing humanity, and hence the IoT community, is that of preserving the environment for future generations.  Specific environmental challenges span the gamut from global concerns such as combatting climate change to local concerns such as preventing ground water contamination.  Smart buildings that sense and model usage patterns can adapt lighting, heating, and cooling to minimize energy consumption.  Environmental sensors can provide early warnings of threats to crops from pests, diseases, or weather and enable mitigation steps to be taken before the threat becomes a crisis.

The opportunities for IoT to address environmental challenges are legion.  Dense networks of sensors can provide high-resolution, high-quality data that can reveal important trends and enable any actions taken in response to be fine-tuned for an optimal result – for example, consider networks of moisture sensors to optimize watering schedules on farms, or networks of temperature sensors to protect citrus fruits and grapes from freezing.  Sensing of supply and demand can be used to optimize the contributions of solar and wind power to the electrical grid.

However, IoT can just as easily cause environmental problems.  IoT envisions billions of low-cost devices all connected to the internet.  Each of these devices has a battery, and both device and battery will need to be disposed of in environmentally-friendly ways.  Additionally, billions of IoT devices will produce peta-bytes of data, which will increase energy demands for storage, processing, and cooling, with potential environmental consequences.  No technology comes without consequences.

The purpose of this special issue is to provide researchers and practitioners with a forum to share experiences, present best practices, disseminate knowledge of applications and issues encountered directly or indirectly in applying IoT technology to the environment. 

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Monitoring and optimization of energy use in homes, buildings, factories, and cities
• Monitoring and optimization of transportation systems to improve fuel efficiency and reduce pollution
• Integration of renewable energy resources and conventional power generation
• Air quality monitoring and analysis
• Water quality monitoring and analysis
• Crop monitoring for pests and diseases
• Forest monitoring for illegal logging, fire, pests, and diseases
• Real-time environmental awareness for fire fighters
• Monitoring and health maintenance of threatened species
• Tracking animal movements
• Detection of illegal harvesting/poaching of animals
• Monitoring of ocean, lake, and river water quality

Submission Guidelines

Articles should be general and present real-world experiences, with the intended audience being all members of the IoT community, independent of technical or business specialty.  Articles are expected to add to the knowledge base or best practices of the IoT community; sales/marketing materials are not appropriate.  Authors are asked to strive to make their papers understandable by the general IoT practitioner. Mathematical material should be avoided; instead, references to papers containing the relevant mathematics should be provided.  Authors are encouraged to use color figures and submit multimedia material along with their articles for review.  We encourage practice and implementation works. Pure theoretical/research papers are not accepted. Editors may provide a quick response to the papers that may not fit this SI.

Authors should target 4,500 words or less (from introduction through conclusions, excluding figures, tables, and captions), or six (6) pages.  Figures and tables should be limited to a combined total of six.  The number of archival references is recommended not to exceed fifteen (15).

Manuscripts should conform to the standard format as indicated in the Information for Authors section of the Article Submission Guidelines.

All manuscripts to be considered for publication must be submitted by the deadline through Manuscript Central. Select the “March 2021: IoT and the Environment” topic from the drop-down menu of Topic/Series titles.

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 30 June 2020
Initial Decision: 30 June 2020
Revised Manuscript Due: 31 August 2020
Decision Notification: 30 September 2020
Final Manuscript Due: 31 December 2020
Publication Date: March 2021

Guest Editors

Massimo Vecchio
Fondazione Bruno Kessler

Russell Hsing
National Chiao Tung University

Syed Hassan Ahmed
JMA Wireless, USA