Journal Open for Submission
https://susy.mdpi.com/user/manuscripts/upload/d63bcb6dc1e06bf5bde439da70e2815e?pre_hash_key=d29661cd8958cc923333f6a84ea31dc5

Special Issue Proposal - Open for Application
https://www.mdpi.com/journalproposal/sendproposalspecialissue/sensors

Sensors 2021 Young Investigator Award
Amount: 2000 CHF
Nomination deadline: 30 June 2021
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/awards/submit/1338

Sensors 2021 Ph.D. Thesis Award
Amount: 1000 CHF
Application deadline: 31 August 2021
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/awards/submit/1249

Detailed description of all awards:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/awards

Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220) provides an advanced forum for the science and technology of sensor and its applications. It publishes reviews (including comprehensive reviews on the complete sensors products), regular research papers and short notes. Our aim is to encourage scientists to publish their experimental and theoretical results in as much detail as possible. The full experimental details must be provided so that the results can be reproduced. There are, in addition, three unique features of this journal:
    
Manuscripts regarding research proposals and research ideas are particularly welcome.
Electronic files and software providing full details of calculation and experimental procedures can be deposited as supplementary material.  
We also accept manuscripts regarding research projects financed with public funds in order that reach a broader audience.

Scope
    Physical sensors
    Chemical sensors
    Biosensors
    Lab-on-a-chip
    Remote sensors
    Sensor networks
    Smart/Intelligent sensors
    Sensor devices
    Sensor technology and application
    Sensing principles
    Optoelectronic and photonic sensors
    Optomechanical sensors
    Sensor arrays and Chemometrics
    Micro and nanosensors
    Internet of Things
    Signal processing, data fusion and deep learning in sensor systems
    Sensor interface
    Human-Computer Interaction
    Advanced materials for sensing
    Sensing systems
    MEMS/NEMS
    Localization and object tracking
    Sensing and imaging
    Image sensors
    Vision/camera based sensors
    Action recognition
    Machine/deep learning and artificial intelligence in sensing and imaging
    3D sensing
    Communications and signal processing
    Wearable sensors, devices and electronics

Special Issue on Sensor Data Fusion and Analysis for Automation Systems
Submission Date: 2021-08-15

Dear Colleagues,

The MDPI Journal of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220, IF 3.275) currently running a Special Issue entitled "Sensor Data Fusion and Analysis for Automation Systems” which is open for submissions until 15 August 2021. 
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/SensorDataFusion_Analysis_AutomationSystems

This Special Issue is devoted to new advances and research results on sensor data fusion and analysis for various automation systems in transportation, robotics, agriculture, and industry. It will publish work exploring frontier technology and applications in related fields. The topics of interest for this issue include, but are not limited to the following:
    Multi-sensor fusion and feature representation
    Information acquisition and analysis for automation
    Sensor signal processing and data analysis
    Big data mining for automation
    Data fusion based on monitoring for automation
    Artificial intelligence for automation systems
    Intelligent robotics and machine vision
    Machine learning based on prediction and decision making
    Intelligent control for automation systems

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Rain.liu@mdpi.com. 

Special Issue on Applications of Internet of Things Networks in 5G and Beyond
Submission Date: 2021-08-15

Dear Colleagues,

The pervasiveness of Internet of Things technology is expected to be ever-increasing in the next decade, with applications including healthcare, smart manufacturing, transport and logistics, and security, to name but a few. This explosion of devices, with different application scenarios, requires new networking paradigms and is heavily influencing the new communications standards like 5G – where the most relevant differences with respect to the previous generation are, indeed, in the support for IoT-based applications.

Even though 5G can, and will be, an enabling technology, there is still a wide area of research, both theoretical and applicated, that has to be performed. Examples of research topics under active development are spectrum coexistence, resource allocation, remote area connectivity, heterogeneous network integration, network optimization, etc. The research, of course, is not limited to improvements in 5G and intends to pave the way toward future standards like 6G.

The challenges and opportunities are not limited to communication technologies. As a matter of fact, IoT systems will produce a massive amount of data that will require proper and timely processing. In this context, the research will need to tackle issues arising from the privacy and security of user data, big data processing, networking paradigms based on virtualization, and network and resource slicing, among others.

A further set of challenges will be driven by the need for new paradigms to cope with cyber threats, as IoT systems are tightly coupled to the cyber-physical domain, meaning that threats to the cyber domain can potentially have severe outcomes in the physical domain.

Finally, the importance of green networking and computing paradigms are expected to increase in the future, both because IoT devices are typically mobile and because energy consumption reduction is nowadays a priority.

This Special Issue seeks innovative works on a wide range of research topics, spanning both theoretical and systems research, including results from industry and academic/industrial collaborations, related but not restricted to the following topics:

Machine learning/AI applications for 5G networks
Distributed and federated machine learning/AI applications to 5G and IoT domains
5G and IoT systems integration
Security and privacy aspects of 5G and IoT pervasive networks
5G and IoT heterogeneous networks
5G and IoT use cases and scenarios (e.g., e-health, vehicular networks, transport systems, autonomous driving, logistic management, etc.)
Age of information in pervasive networks
Network virtualization systems for 5G and IoT networks (e.g., SDN, NFV, virtual machine placement and migration, network slicing, etc.)
Service and network planning for IoT and 5G systems
Edge networking and computation for 5G/IoT domains
Evolution of 5G and IoT toward 6G and beyond networks
Full duplex communications in 5G and IoT networks

Special Issue on Applications of Internet of Things Networks in 5G and Beyond
Submission Date: 2021-08-15

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/IoT_Beyond

Dear Colleagues,

The pervasiveness of Internet of Things technology is expected to be ever-increasing in the next decade, with applications including healthcare, smart manufacturing, transport and logistics, and security, to name but a few. This explosion of devices, with different application scenarios, requires new networking paradigms and is heavily influencing the new communications standards like 5G – where the most relevant differences with respect to the previous generation are, indeed, in the support for IoT-based applications.

Even though 5G can, and will be, an enabling technology, there is still a wide area of research, both theoretical and applicated, that has to be performed. Examples of research topics under active development are spectrum coexistence, resource allocation, remote area connectivity, heterogeneous network integration, network optimization, etc. The research, of course, is not limited to improvements in 5G and intends to pave the way toward future standards like 6G.

The challenges and opportunities are not limited to communication technologies. As a matter of fact, IoT systems will produce a massive amount of data that will require proper and timely processing. In this context, the research will need to tackle issues arising from the privacy and security of user data, big data processing, networking paradigms based on virtualization, and network and resource slicing, among others.

A further set of challenges will be driven by the need for new paradigms to cope with cyber threats, as IoT systems are tightly coupled to the cyber-physical domain, meaning that threats to the cyber domain can potentially have severe outcomes in the physical domain.

Finally, the importance of green networking and computing paradigms are expected to increase in the future, both because IoT devices are typically mobile and because energy consumption reduction is nowadays a priority.

This Special Issue seeks innovative works on a wide range of research topics, spanning both theoretical and systems research, including results from industry and academic/industrial collaborations, related but not restricted to the following topics:

Machine learning/AI applications for 5G networks
Distributed and federated machine learning/AI applications to 5G and IoT domains
5G and IoT systems integration
Security and privacy aspects of 5G and IoT pervasive networks
5G and IoT heterogeneous networks
5G and IoT use cases and scenarios (e.g., e-health, vehicular networks, transport systems, autonomous driving, logistic management, etc.)
Age of information in pervasive networks
Network virtualization systems for 5G and IoT networks (e.g., SDN, NFV, virtual machine placement and migration, network slicing, etc.)
Service and network planning for IoT and 5G systems
Edge networking and computation for 5G/IoT domains
Evolution of 5G and IoT toward 6G and beyond networks
Full duplex communications in 5G and IoT networks

Prof. Dr. Tommaso Pecorella
Dr. Benedetta Picano
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Special Issue on Microgenerators Applicable in the MEMS/NEMS Sensors
Submission Date: 2021-08-31

Special Issue on Microgenerators Applicable in the MEMS/NEMS Sensors
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/microgenerators_applicable_mems_nems_sensors

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of the selected publications is to describe both theoretical approaches to and principles of harvesting, such as the conversion of different "residual" forms of energy into electrical energy with the required parameters and measurable transformation efficiency, as well as a number of different approaches to extracting potential and dynamic forms of local system energy.
Areas of interest are mainly:
Theoretical foundations of the principles of extraction/transformation (electromagnetic field) as well as equipment for the conversion of any form of energy into electrical energy with a wider application potential, for structures of millimeter, micrometer or nanometer technology, power supply for sensing technology, supporting electronics, etc.
Some specific applications (in the areas of both technology and manufacturing issues, as well as tasks related to implementation) in MEMS and NEMS sensors.
The appropriate selection of the principles of harvesting (efficiency, performance, limiting factors of activity, multidisciplinary use, interdisciplinary solutions, special applications of material, medical, space, microscopic and other technologies) for the selected shape, application and size of the sensor.

Prof. Dr. Pavel Fiala
Guest Editor

Special Issue on Special Issue on Fusion of Multi-Sensors for Underwater Navigation and Localization
Submission Date: 2021-08-31

Special Issue on Fusion of Multi-Sensors for Underwater Navigation and Localization
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/underwater_navigation_localization

Dear Colleagues,

Advances in underwater robotics and autonomous systems have led to the emergence of underwater autonomous vehicles (AUVs) for applications ranging from undersea surveillance through seafloor mapping and seabed characterization to seabed survey and object recognition. At the same time, the scientific community has been deploying unattended systems and sensors at the seafloor or drifting in the water column at increasing depths and for increasing durations. In all these applications, key enabling technologies are navigation and localization. In the former, the vehicle is set to keep track on its planned course and to link findings to a geographic location. In the latter, an accurate estimation of the sensor’s location is required not only to confirm the location of the planned deployment, but also to connect findings to the geographic location. In the absence of GPS readings underwater, the deployed system relies on its onboard sensors and on external information for navigation.

Navigation of submerged vehicles is a demanding process with unique challenges, such as the effect of the water current, handling noise sources with few to no reliable measurements, and modeling dynamics in an ever-changing environment. Different than terrestrial or aerial navigation, where navigation fixes can be obtained from sources such as GPS or external beacons, handling the drift of underwater navigation system calls for the fusion of multiple sensors. These can be self-measurements from inertial sensors, depth meters or sonar systems, or external information from acoustic beacons, bathymetric maps, or objects of opportunity found on the seabed. Such fusion holds the potential to mitigate measurement noise, improve convergence, and resolve position ambiguities.

Recent years have shown innovative work both in improving the accuracy of navigation sensors and in the analysis to evaluate the navigation performance. Both experimental and theoretical works have constantly improved navigation capabilities, allowing AUVs to remain longer and search farther underwater. It is now the time to push these limits further by developing new ambitious methods for multisensor navigation. This Special Issue seeks innovative works in a wide range of research topics, spanning both theoretical and systems research, including results from industry and academic/industrial collaborations, related but not restricted to the following topics:

Algorithms to combine sensors for underwater navigation or localization;
Design of underwater navigation or localization systems combining multiple sensors;
Filtering techniques for multisensor fusion;
Experimental results demonstrating advantages of multisensor navigation or localization;
Analysis of navigation and localization bounds, and limitation for the use of multisensors;
Relative navigation in structured underwater environments;
Cooperative localization and navigation.

Guest Editors
Dr. Roee Diamant
Dr. Nuno Cruz

Special Issue on Advanced Systems for Human Machine Interactions
Submission Date: 2021-08-31

Advanced Systems for Human Machine Interactions
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/systems_human_machine_interactions

Dear Colleagues,

Machines have been an important part of human life since the first industrial revolution. Recently, however, they have become a part of our lives in way that could hardly be imagined even a couple of decades ago. Concepts such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Vision, 5G networks, etc. are pointing toward a future where machines and humans will become even more connected. A very important part of this process are human–machine interface (HMI) systems. As they are the part the human most often comes in contact with when dealing with machines, their design is very important and can often make the difference between certain applications being accepted among users or not.

In this Special Issue titled “Advanced Systems for Human–Machine Interactions”, we aim to provide a collection of papers that present the latest research in all areas of human–machine interactions for various applications. The Special Issue solicits submissions from scientists and engineers, whose work represents a novel contribution to the field of HMI. The articles that this issue is looking for must be original work or comprehensive reviews, which should not be published or submitted for publication to any other journal. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

Machine vision;
Artificial intelligence;
Advanced sensorial systems;
Physiological sensing;
Collaborative robotics.

Guest Editor
Prof. Primož Podržaj

Special Issue on Computer-Aided and Game-Based Telerehabilitation and Telemonitoring Platforms
Submission Date: 2021-08-31

Dear Colleagues,

Telerehabilitation has long been recognized as a necessary part of the neurorehab process. With the added pressure due to the COVID pandemic, there is more reason to develop cost-effective systems for safe neurorehab programs that can be done remotely (i.e., in-home or in rural communities) and, importantly, monitored by clinician specialists (telemonitoring). Regular clinical-support of home and rural programs with protocols that can be easily updated will help create better-targeted and personalized solutions for patients and achieve the desired training effect. In addition to increasing accessibility, there is a need to improve compliance of exercise regimes over the entire population, ranging from children to elderly patients. An emerging approach to engage patients in therapy is to incorporate computer games in which a range of learning elements with interactive motor and cognitive challenges help individuals to participate in motor activities and the practice of repetitive tasks.

The collection will highlight the range of technologies (sensors, digital media, intelligent agents) used and emerging best practices regarding their specifications, acceptability/usability, engagement and therapeutic effects.

Prof. Dr. Tony Szturm
Prof. Dr. Nariman Sepehri
Dr. Sanjay T. Parmar
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Structural Health Monitoring and Non-Destructive Testing for Engineering Applications: Advances in Sensor and Technologies
Submission Date: 2021-08-31

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/shmntea_sensors

Dear Colleagues,

Non-destructive testing (NDT) and structural health monitoring (SHM) are strategic procedures for the non-invasive assessment of the health state of materials and structures. Several NDT protocols guarantee that each engineering component enters in service after satisfying a series of stringent tests ensuring the maximum safety level for both persons and products. New studies in this field have a strategic and essential role in order to reduce the NDT costs and improve test performance. As a natural evolution of NDT procedures, structural health monitoring (SHM) has been developing fast, to reduce maintenance costs and limit design constraints. Continuous monitoring of both components and their assemblies ensures high levels of safety, reducing the number of inspections as well.

This Special Issue focuses on fostering technical improvements and new technologies developing for characterization and real-time monitoring of mechanical parts and, generally, structures in a variety of engineering fields (automotive, nuclear, petrochemical, archeology, cultural heritage, aerospace, and so on). We would like to invite original research articles as well as review articles that contain theoretical, analytical, and experimental investigations covering all aspects of NDT&E and SHM.

Keywords

    Sensors and transducers for NDT/SHM
    Advanced techniques for NDT/SHM measurements
    Smart sensors for NDT/SHM
    Methods and systems for designing, optimizing, and characterizing NDT instruments and devices
    Data processing and advanced techniques for NDT and SHM measurements
    Reliability of NDT/SHM New SHM methodologies and damage assessment criteria
    Methods and devices to optimize the performance of existing NDT techniques
    Artificial intelligence in the data analysis and damage prediction applied to NDT/SHM


Dr. Leandro Maio
Dr. Vittorio Memmolo
Dr. Marco Laracca
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Artificial Intelligence for Network of UAVs and Swarms of Small Satellites
Submission Date: 2021-08-31

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/sss_sensors

Dear Colleagues,

The use of aerial drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),  has proven to be very useful in rescue and monitoring operations, and more particularly, in ensuring population surveillance during the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drones can be used for communication, monitoring and delivery. Deep space exploration requires developing and deploying new generations of flexible and resilient swarms of small satellites, with adaptive capabilities and intelligent functions.

The integration of unmanned vehicles with terrestrial and space networks is under standardization and experimentation.

Research in this domain revealed several critical issues, such as autonomous deployment, navigation and control, energy management and seamless services, over heterogenous networks. Advanced methods should be designed for the reliable and efficient functioning of the network of unmanned vehicles, and swarms of small satellites.

This Special Issue is looking for contributions investigating the use of Artificial Intelligence in the field of placement, smart network control and navigation of unmanned vehicles and swarms of small satellites from theoretical to experimental studies. 

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following: 

    Efficient and resilient smart deployment of aerial drones;
    Smart deployment and control of swarms of small satellites;
    Smart control of unmanned vehicles aided networks;
    UAV aided mobile sensor networks;
    Autonomous vehicles networks monitoring;
    Energy efficient UAV tracking of mobile targets;
    Energy harvesting for UAV networks;
    Traffic monitoring aided by unmanned vehicles;
    Intelligent resource allocation schemes for UAV and Swarms of nano-satellite networks;
    Beyond 5G Space-Air-Ground networks control;
    Coverage optimization and control in UAV surveillance;
    Collision avoidance for unmanned vehicles;
    Autonomous networks for deep space exploration;
    AI-based control of UAV and Swarms of nano-satellite networks;
    Experimental platforms for UAV networks, UAVs aided mobile networks and Swarms of small satellites

Keywords

    AI
    UAVs
    small satellites
    smart placement
    network control
    navigation


Dr. Maria Rita Palattella
Prof. Dr. Riadh Dhaou
Guest Editors

Special Issue on  Toward the Application of Smart Self-Sensing Nanocomposites to Structural Health Monitoring
Submission Date: 2021-08-31

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/SSNSHM

The multifunctional properties of epoxy-based nanocomposites reinforced with carbon nanoparticles are attracting the attention of scientists and designers of structural and prognostic health monitoring systems. The idea of creating a composite structure capable of self-sensing potential deterioration mechanisms within the material by a measure of its piezoresistivity could potentially revolutionize the concept of sensor network design. However, one main factor limits the move toward the industrial application of this technology: the lack of self-sensing robustness hampers the predictability of the sensor performance in terms of sensitivity to the presence of damage and the capability to track its trend during the course of its evolution.

This Special Issue is intended to bring together the various efforts made in developing methods to increase the readiness of this technology for future industrial application, including manufacturing strategies, modeling frameworks, and the development of ternary-state nanocomposites, with a special focus on increasing the sensor performance predictability.

Dr. Claudio Sbarufatti
Prof. Dr. Alberto Jiménez Suárez
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Drone Sensing and Imaging for Environment Monitoring
Submission Date: 2021-09-15

Dear Colleagues，

The development and diffusion of unmanned and remote controlled flying platforms (drones) has induced the universities and scientists to use these systems in many scientific field where is fondamental the observation, the inspection and management of critical areas by the remote sensing.

A drone can be equipped with small and compact instrumentation, precision GPS systems, thermal and multispectral cameras, magnetometers and high resolution cameras capable of performing reporting maps in very high precision, thermal photographs, high definition video footage, but also gas or ground material sampling or tools release.

Thus allowing to explore extreme sites and collect a wide range of useful data and details in short time for the study of natural phenomena and environmental monitoring, with very low operating costs.

These high-performance multipurpose flight systems can now safely access inaccessible environments. At the same time, they have stimulated technological research to develop new airborne instruments and sensors and new remote observation techniques.

This Special Issue is dedicated to drone sensing and applications of sensors and tools designed for environmental monitoring to be integrated on board drones" with a new sentence "This special issue is dedicated to environmental detection through drones and the application of new sensors and tools designed to be integrated on board drones and used for environmental research and monitoring

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/drone_sensing_imaging

Keywords

    remote sensing
    infrared camera
    remote sampling
    multipurpose drone
    instruments release
    gas sensors
    multispectral camera

Dr. Giuseppe Di Stefano
Guest Editor

Special Issue on Drone Sensing and Imaging for Environment Monitoring
Submission Date: 2021-09-15

Dear Colleagues，

The development and diffusion of unmanned and remote controlled flying platforms (drones) has induced the universities and scientists to use these systems in many scientific field where is fundamental the observation, the inspection and management of critical areas by the remote sensing.

A drone can be equipped with small and compact instrumentation, precision GPS systems, thermal and multispectral cameras, magnetometers and high resolution cameras capable of performing reporting maps in very high precision, thermal photographs, high definition video footage, but also gas or ground material sampling or tools release.

Thus allowing to explore extreme sites and collect a wide range of useful data and details in short time for the study of natural phenomena and environmental monitoring, with very low operating costs.

These high-performance multipurpose flight systems can now safely access inaccessible environments. At the same time, they have stimulated technological research to develop new airborne instruments and sensors and new remote observation techniques.

This Special Issue is dedicated to drone sensing and applications of sensors and tools designed for environmental monitoring to be integrated on board drones" with a new sentence "This special issue is dedicated to environmental detection through drones and the application of new sensors and tools designed to be integrated on board drones and used for environmental research and monitoring

Keywords

    remote sensing
    infrared camera
    remote sampling
    multipurpose drone
    instruments release
    gas sensors
    multispectral camera

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/drone_sensing_imaging

Dr. Giuseppe Di Stefano
Guest Editor

Special Issue on special issue on Well-Being, Comfort and Health Monitoring through Wearable Sensors
Submission Date: 2021-09-20

link:  https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Health_Wearable_Sensors

Special Issue Information

The development of wearable technologies over the past years has opened up the possibility of extracting physiological parameters just through using low cost and non-invasive systems. Continuous monitoring of physiological and personal parameters, e.g., electrocardiograms, electrodermal activity, electroencephalograms, skin temperature, activity level, etc., through wearable sensors has been demonstrated to define the user's well-being, comfort, and health status in the life environments, both indoor and outdoor.

In this Special Issue, we call for papers presenting innovative solutions and signal processing techniques to measure the well-being, comfort, and health status of the user in the life environments, i.e., indoor and outdoor, through wearable sensors eventually integrated in sensor networks. The papers have to consider the accuracy in the measurement of such quantities.

Keywords
    wearable sensors
    well-being, health
    comfort
    measurements
    accuracy
    life environment

Dr. Gian Marco Revel (Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche)
Dr. Sara Casaccia (Department of Industrial Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche)
Guest Editors

Special Issue on ccurate Synchronization in IoT
Submission Date: 2021-09-30

Special Issue "Accurate Synchronization in IoT"
website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/ASIoT
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021

Dear Colleagues,

Internet of Things (IoT) combined with Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have experienced a great evolution in the last decade, opening the door to new and enhanced applications that in some scenarios can require  high accurate synchronization, such as real time monitoring, ranging, collaborative beamforming, etc. Notice that these networks are set up with small distributed nodes, based on low cost components, that have limited power supply, processing, memory and communications. Due to their poor performance and quality of their clocks, usually time synchronization is in the order of milliseconds and a higher precision is a great challenge.  However, using advanced synchronization protocols, emergent communication technologies, such as Ultra Wide Band (UWB), and/or tuning slightly these nodes, we can achieve this time accuracy. This Special Issue on “Accurate synchronization in IoT" aims to gather all these recent developments and advances to share with the research community.

Submissions are expected to focus on both theoretical and practical aspects and applications. New ideas proposing disruptive approaches are also welcome.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following areas:

    Ultra-wideband communications;
    Network timing;
    Synchronization protocols;
    Modulations and symbol correlation;
    IEEE 802.15.4 transceivers;
    Open-source solutions.

Dr. Juan J. Perez-Solano
Dr. Santiago Felici-Castell
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Integrating the Internet of Things and Blockchain-Enabled Applications: Current Practices, Opportunities and Challenges
Submission Date: 2021-09-30

website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/IIoTBEA

Dear Colleagues,

The Internet of Things (IoT) applications and blockchain technology are driving Industry 4.0, and their integration seems almost mandatory for the years to come. Various weaknesses of IoT-related applications such as security vulnerabilities, data privacy and confidentiality issues could be tackled by the non-repudiable and forensics-by-design nature of blockchain technology. Arguably, blockchain-enabled applications could serve as a trusted environment for intra- and intersystem IoT communications and foster the development of fine-grained access control mechanisms of IoT data and services. Other benefits of integrating blockchain and IoT applications, particularly through smart contracts, include data integrity, forensics and chain-of-custody for IoT devices and sound identity management schemes.

Integrating, however, IoT sensors and blockchain-enabled applications might be a daunting task, especially when considering that such integration should occur within current enterprise resource planning (ERP) or cloud-based systems widely applied in all domains of global business and industry. The advent of 5G technologies also creates new challenges for successfully integrating IoT and blockchain. In particular, 5G-enabled IoT applications call for high data rates, network scalability and a massive number of device connectivity, technical requirements that challenge current blockchain platforms’ scalability features. Additionally, lack of interoperability and standardization heavily affect blockchain platforms’ potential to be fully integrated with IoT-related applications.

In this Special Issue of Sensors, we invite submissions focusing on the symbiotic relationship and integration potential of IoT-related applications and blockchain technology. We welcome submissions that offer important technical, conceptual and empirical insights into how IoT and blockchain could be successfully integrated within current ERP or cloud-based systems, particularly by tackling the various technical, security, operational and regulatory issues prevalent in today’s business context. Of particular interest are papers focusing on integrating blockchain and IoT in specific sectors such as industrial manufacturing, logistics, finance, health, energy, etc.

Dr. Thomas K. Dasaklis
Dr. Fran Casino
Dr. Rachaniotis Nikolaos
Guest Editors

Special Issue on special issue on Portable Sensor Systems for Microbial Application
Submission Date: 2021-09-30

link:  https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Portable_Sensor_Microbial

Special Issue Information

Bacterial contamination is routinely screened in different areas of application, such as food production and processing, environmental monitoring, cosmetics production, and industrial and military applications.

The measurement of microbial concentration is important since high microbial contamination or the presence of pathogens can seriously endanger consumer health. It is usually carried out by laboratory analysis, and this results in high costs for analysis and long response times. Recently, much research has been carried out to propose novel techniques for microbial analysis that can allow low-cost and in situ measurements outside a laboratory environment. Such techniques are based on different transduction principles, such as electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), amperometry, voltammetry, near infrared (NIR) optical analysis, piezoelectricity, and fluorescence.

One important characteristic of the proposed techniques is potential implementation in the form of an embedded portable electronic system, based on a microcontroller or FPGA, to allow microbial analysis outside a laboratory to also be performed by nonskilled personnel. Moreover, the recent wide diffusion of smartphones with a high processing capability that integrate wireless communication systems and a rich sensor set offers an optimal platform to design low-cost mobile sensing systems.

The editors welcome the submission of high-quality research papers not previously published in other journals as well as review articles discussing recent advancements in the development of portable sensor systems for microbial analysis and innovative techniques for microbial analysis that can be easily implemented in the form of an electronic embedded system.

Keywords

    Sensor
    Bacteria
    Microbial analysis
    Portable system
    Biosensor
    Lab-on-a-chip

Dr. Marco Grossi (Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Energia Elettrica e dell'Informazione "Guglielmo Marconi")
Guest Editor

Special Issue on Sensors and AI for Movement Analysis
Submission Date: 2021-09-30

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/SAMA

Dear colleagues,

Movement analysis is currently one of the more attractive research fields and covers several applications from clinics to sports, as well as robotics and industry. In recent decades, the introduction of sensor-based systems to quantitatively perform movement analyses represented a breaking point among researchers, allowing them to overcome the limitations associated with the previous subjective methodologies. The most widespread sensors are optoelectronic systems, force platforms, inertial sensors, physiological sensors, probes for electromyography, and others, which permit one to fully understand the mechanism related to different motor tasks. In recent years, artificial intelligence has been introduced in movement analysis as a further tool to provide useful information with an automatic approach, also thanks to the increasing availability of large open datasets obtained through quantitative human motion analysis. It is clear that constant technological improvements have led to an ever-increasing number of possible innovative studies in this field.

Thus, this Special Issue aims to promote innovative studies based on the application of sensors and AI for movement analysis in several fields, such as clinics, sports, robotics, and industry; the implementation of innovative methodologies for data analysis; the design of innovative sensors; and the publication of open databases for motion analysis.

Keywords

    movement analysis
    wearable sensors
    artificial intelligence
    experimental biomechanics
    kinematics
    kinetics
    posturography
    muscle activities
    sensor-based system


Prof. Dr. Stefano Rossi
Guest Editor

Special Issue on Automatic Detection of Seismic Signals
Submission Date: 2021-09-30

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/adss_sensors

Dear Colleagues,

Automatic detection and picking of seismic signals is crucial for seismic networks, which continuously monitor and work with huge volumes of data. In this situation, manual picking is tedious work in which some small events can go unnoticed and others can produce false alarms.

Accordingly, automatic picking algorithms are in constant development. New methodologies based on energy analysis, artificial neural networks, maximum likelihood methods, fuzzy logic theory, polarization analysis, hidden Markov models, autoregressive techniques, higher order statistics, wavelet transform, or template matching, among others, are continuously being investigated.

Accurate and reliable identification and detection of seismic phases is essential for subsequent real-time analysis. The information contained in the different seismic phases allows the expected magnitude, the epicentral location of an event, and other parameters that might be used by earthquake early-warning systems to be estimated.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present the most recent advances in the automatic detection and phase picking of seismic signals. Topics related to this Special Issue of Sensors include, but are not limited to:

    Automatic seismic event detection;
    Accurate seismic phase picking;
    Real-time processing of seismic signals;
    New methodologies for the automatic estimation of earthquake parameters;
    Monitoring and early-warning systems.

Dr. Sergio Molina
Dr. Juan Jose Galiana-Merino
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Machine Learning and Signal Processing in Sensing and Sensor Applications
Submission Date: 2021-09-30

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/mlsspas_sensors

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, machine learning (ML) technologies have made it possible to collect, analyze, and interpret a large amount of sensory information. As a result, a new era of intelligent sensors is emerging that changes the ways of perceiving and understanding the world. The integration of ML algorithms with artificial intelligence (AI) technology benefits other areas such as Industry 4.0, Internet of Things, etc. leveraging these two technologies, it is possible to design sensors tailored to specific applications. To this end, signal data, such as electrical signals, vibrations, sounds, accelerometer signals, as well as any other kind of sensory data like images, numerical data, etc. need to be analyzed and processed from real-time algorithms to mine useful insights and to embed these algorithms in sensors.

This Special Issue calls for innovative work that explores new frontiers and challenges in the field of applying ML/AI technologies and algorithms for high-sample-rate sensors. It includes new ML and AI models, hybrid systems, as well as case studies or reviews of the state-of-the-art.

The topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:

    ML algorithms in smart sensor systems
    AI models in smart sensor systems
    ML/AI‐enabled smart sensor systems
    Practical smart-sensor applications
    Practical smart-sensing systems
    Health and disease data management
    Medical image diagnosis and analysis
    Biology data analysis
    Smart visual imaging sensing systems
    Object detection and recognition
    Smart-sensors for environmental pollution management
    Smart-sensors for precision agriculture and food science
    Big data analytics for sensor data
    Intelligent real-time algorithms for sensor data
    Features for signal classification
    Feature discovery
    Applications of AI and ML in sensor domains: energy, IoT, Industry 4.0, etc.

Dr. Gianni D’Angelo
Guest Editor

Special Issue on  Optical Spectral Sensing and Imaging Technology
Submission Date: 2021-09-30

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/OPSIT

In optical spectral sensing and imaging technologies, spatial information is combined with spectroscopy. These methods offer fast and non-destructive methods which have evolved into powerful analysis tools for science and industry. In recent years, the related areas have developed rapidly. On the one hand, development is being driven forward both technically and methodically. Camera/imaging technology is developing very quickly—especially, the first hyperspectral chips have become commercially affordable. Additionally, their use in smartphones as sensors will not be long in coming. Another driving force is the ever more powerful computers and programs that enable us to visualize and analyze the enormous amounts of data in a reasonable amount of time using chemometric methods or AI applications.

This Special Issue will focus on (i) current state-of-the-art of optical sensors for spectral sensing and imaging, (ii) recent technological improvements in new devices/sensors, (iii) mathematical methods for data analysis, and (iv) scientific/industrial applications. Both original research papers and review articles describing the current state-of-the-art in this research field are welcome. The Editor intends with this SI to provide an overview of the present status as well as a future perspective of these topics.

The manuscripts should cover, but are not limited to, the following topics:

    Existing methodology and instrumentation;
    Emerging novel instrumentation and techniques;
    Spectral/data unmixing;
    Spectral variability;
    Classification, segmentation, and compression;
    Data fusion, information extraction, and simulation;
    Target detection;
    Hyperspectral image classification;
    High performance computing;
    AI applications and chemometric modeling;
    Calibration transfer;
    Scientific and industrial applications—all topics are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Marc Brecht
Department of Applied Chemistry, Hochschule Reutlingen, Alteburgstrasse 150, Reutlingen, Germany
Guest Editor

Special Issue on special issue on Advances in Spectroscopy and Spectral Imaging
Submission Date: 2021-10-01

link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Spectroscopy_Spectral_Imaging
 
Special Issue Information

Spectroscopy aims at recovering the spectral signature of light at a scene point, within a given spectral range and a given spectral resolution. Spectral imaging enhances this functionality by adding spatial dimension, leading to a spatiospectral data representation (i.e., a spectral data cube). On one hand, novel hardware designs dedicated to spectroscopy and spectral imaging (SSI) are demanded to improve the efficiency, flexibility, or compactness of the SSI systems. On the other hand, dedicated data processing is required for the emergence of SSI systems.

Recent advances in the field could potentially lead to the massification of SSI, and a better implication of SSI in applications, such as for computer vision, computer graphics, or remote sensing. To further help SSIs to break through into applications, it is necessary to go beyond our understanding of their limitations.

This Special Issue focuses on these topics, so the different issues, achievements, and progress from different disciplines are available from one single issue.
Potential topics include but are not limited to:

    Technology: spectral sensors, optical design, camera design, acquisition setup, etc.
    Computational algorithm: imaging model, data processing, noise reduction, calibration, image enhancement, demosaicing, super-resolution, high dynamic range, etc.
    Inverse problem: spectral reconstruction, illuminant estimation, reflection mode separation, rendering, matching, etc.
    Data mining for spectral information: learning, CNN, time series, etc.
    Applications in computer vision: medical imaging, automotive, cultural heritage (classification, text analysis), etc.
    Applications in computer graphics: cultural heritage (visual reproduction), etc.
    Other SSI applications in remote sensing, chemistry, biology, etc.

Keywords

    spectral sensors
    spectroscopy
    spectral imaging
    multispectral imaging
    hyperspectral imaging
    spectropolarimetric imaging

Dr. Pierre-Jean Lapray (Université de Haute-Alsace)
Dr. Jean-Baptiste Thomas (The Norwegian Colour and Visual Computing Laboratory, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Dr. Yusuke Monno (Okutomi & Tanaka Laboratory, Department of Systems and Control Engineering, School of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Multiple Access Techniques in Emerging Wireless Systems: Performance, Applications and Challenges
Submission Date: 2021-10-15

website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/multiple_access_techniques

Dear Colleagues,

With the expected increase of the number of users in 5G networks, techniques based on orthogonal multiple access (OMA) may no longer meet the new requirements, particularly in terms of high spectral efficiency, low latency, as well as massive connectivity of devices. In this context, the non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique is at the forefront, emerging as one of the most promising radio access techniques in next-generation wireless communications. It consists of serving multiple users using the same resource in terms of time, frequency, and space. Compared to OMA techniques, NOMA appears as a viable solution capable of enhancing spectrum efficiency, reducing latency with high reliability, and enabling massive connectivity of sensor nodes, IoT equipment, and other smart devices.

Recent studies have shown some existing evidence of performance improvement when NOMA is integrated with effective wireless communication techniques such as multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO), beamforming, cooperative communications, etc.

However, this new technique introduces additional challenges that need to be solved, such as interference management due to superimposition on the same resource and security issues.

This Special Issue focuses on research and development of NOMA-based systems. Researchers are invited to contribute high-quality articles on the latest advances related to improving and solving key challenges within NOMA-based systems, including emerging applications and algorithms to improve the overall performance.

Both original practical work and review articles are welcome. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

    Resource allocation in NOMA-based systems;
    Resource optimization in NOMA;
    NOMA in full-duplex wireless networks;
    Cooperative communication or relaying with NOMA;
    Emerging applications of NOMA;
    Performance analysis of NOMA systems;
    Simulation of NOMA systems;
    Hybrid NOMA;
    Privacy and security issues in NOMA systems;
    Energy efficiency in NOMA systems;
    NOMA in vehicular communications.

Dr. Sahar Hoteit
Dr. Hyunbum Kim
Dr. Omar Sami Oubbati
Guest Editors

Special Issue on special issue on Access Control in the Internet of Things
Submission Date: 2021-10-15

link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Access_Control_in_IoT
 
Special Issue Information

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a complex ecosystem that in the last several years has considerably improved our daily life style. In IoT networks, ubiquitous interconnected sensors, actuators, and devices produce a large amount of data, and the development of heterogeneous communication technologies allows them to exchange such data, thus enabling the creation of a number of innovative services. IoT technologies are applied in many domains, including smart home, smart city, and industrial and healthcare environments. Besides a large number of undoubted benefits, the widespread adoption of IoT technologies also raised security and privacy issues. Access control is a crucial aspect to be considered to guarantee the confidentiality and integrity of data and devices, and it is attracting increasing attention from both industry and academia. For instance, devices that actively monitor the human body’s vital signs or industrial systems deal with very sensitive and private data. Therefore, there is the necessity of  increasing research activity about access control models and frameworks so as to guarantee, on the one hand, reliability and availability in order to ensure any urgent intervention in case of emergency, and on the other hand, restricted access to prevent any tentative corrupting, stealing, or disclosing of data.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather the latest research results concerning theories, methodologies, techniques, and new solutions for access control in IoT. In particular, this volume addresses the topic of access control in IoT while considering several dimensions: languages and models, requirements and architectural solutions, security and privacy issues, verification and validation techniques as well as application domains and perspectives. Researchers, experts, and scholars from both industry and academia are encouraged to present their recent achievements, joint collaborations, and research directions in this area.

Topics of interest within access control in the IoT context include (but are not limited to):

    Vulnerability analysis and threat mitigation
    Data protection and privacy preservation
    Security and privacy requirements, analysis, and specification
    Architectures, protocols, and services in IoT
    Access Control models
    Context awareness of access control models
    Access Control policy languages
    Policy engineering
    Access Control enforcement techniques for IoT
    Validation and verification of access control systems
    Validation and verification of policy and policy languages
    Access Control frameworks and tools in IoT
    Distributed ledgers and blockchain applications for access control in IoT
    Access Control in Cyber-physical systems and ecosystems
    Access Control in Systems of Systems
    Access Control in industrial contexts
    Access Control in smart environments (city, home, campus, vehicles, etc.)
    Access Control for healthcare environment
    Access Control in IoT specific domains
    Perspectives, challenges, opportunities and issues of access control in IoT

Dr. Francesca Lonetti  (Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione "Alessandro Faedo", Area della Ricerca CNR di Pisa)
Dr. Eda Marchetti  (Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologie dell'Informazione "Alessandro Faedo", Area della Ricerca CNR di Pisa)
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Securing the Industrial Internet of Things
Submission Date: 2021-10-21

Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Securing_IIoT

Dear Colleagues,

The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled rapid enhancements for the applications not only in home, business, and environment scenarios, but also in factory automation. Today, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) offers all the advantages of IoT to the industrial scenarios, for a wide range of applications from remote sensing/actuating to de-centralization/autonomy.

In this Special Issue, the editor aims at presenting the IIoT and its place during the industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), while our world is being transformed into a better, comfortable, safer, automated, and sustainable one. This Special Issue will cover the cross-relations and implications of IIoT with existing wired/wireless communication/networking and safety technologies of the Industrial Networks, especially from a cybersecurity point of view. The cybersecurity-related needs/requirements of IIoT users (including GDPR-related implications and concerns) and the services that might address these needs will be a topic of interest. User privacy, data ownership, and proprietary information handling related to IIoT networks will also be investigated. The well-famed trio of cybersecurity, intrusion-prevention, -detection, and -mitigation will also be considered for IIoT networks.

This Special Issue encourages authors from academia and industry to submit new research results related to cybersecurity of IIoT. The topics include but are not limited to the following:

    Cyber security of
        Cyberphysical systems (CPS)
        Digital twin
        Intelligent factory
        Industrial automation
        Internet-of-Things (IoT)
        Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT)
        Smart cities
        Smart factory
        Smart supply-chain management
    Cross-relations and implications of IIoT with (from a cybersecurity point of view):
        Process and building automation protocols for Industry 4.0: BACnet, CAN,DLSM/COSEM, DNP3, Fieldbus, HART, ISA 100.11a, IEC 62601,PROFIBUS, PROFINET, Modbus, Modbus+, M-Bus, SCADA,WirelessHART, X10
        Wireless communications technologies for Industry 4.0: IEEE 802.15.4, LPWAN (LoRa, etc.), 6lowPAN, ZigBee, Z-Wave
    IIoT environments and privacy issues (GDPR point of view, etc.)
    Industrial applications using IIoT (from a cybersecurity point of view)
    Principles and techniques for cybersecurity of IIoT networks
    Data collection/preparation techniques for analysis regarding cyber security
    Technologies to be used
        Blockchain
        Digital signatures
        Homomorphic encryption
        and many more.

Dr. Ismail Butun
Guest Editor

Special Issue on Advanced Multi-Band Antennas and Millimeter-Wave Components
Submission Date: 2021-10-31

Dear Colleagues,

Wireless communication is one of the fastest-growing fields of communication industry. This constant evolution fosters the antenna community to design new radiating systems capable of satisfying the market demands. Conventional antennas designed in a wireless communication system will operate in one frequency band. However, there is a need to design multiband or wideband antennas and components which can operate at multiple frequencies. In modern wireless communication systems, multiband antennas have derived rapidly increasing attention in which the downward compatibility and the roaming capability among multi-standards are demanded.

The objective of the present special issue is to present the latest advances in the field of multiband antennas and components for wireless communications.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, multi-band antennas and also to multi-band millimeter wave components (like multiband polarizers, transmittarray, reflectarrays, frequency selective surfaces etc.).

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/multi_band_antennas

Keywords

    Dual Band
    Multi Band Antennas
    Dual Band Antennas
    Multifrequency Antennas
    multiband antenna array design
    multiband operation
    dual-band satellite communication

Dr. Emilio Arnieri
Guest Editor

Special Issue on Integrating Sensor Technologies in Educational Settings
Submission Date: 2021-10-31

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/education_sensors

Dear Colleagues,  

Just as sensor technologies are deeply impacting engineering and scientific practices, so too are they increasingly becoming integrated in educational settings to support innovative learning activities. The growing availability of low-cost, portable sensors can be deployed to collect real-time measurements of properties from the surrounding world, for example light, temperature, magnetism, acceleration, sound, and CO2. When coupled with microcontrollers (such as the micro:bit), sensor data streams can be easily programmed to control the behaviors of actuators and data displays, thereby making the invisible visible, inspectable, and actionable.

This Special Issue will provide a forum for describing innovative approaches to using programmable sensor technologies in a range of educational settings.

Papers are solicited on the general theme of this issue. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Reviewing the use of sensor technology in education settings;
Describing the development of science and data science instructional materials that integrate sensor technology;
Investigating how students engage in authentic scientific practices through exploring phenomena using sensor technology;
Describing the development of real-time data displays of sensor data streams to support learning;
Supporting the development of students’ computational thinking in sensor-based instructional materials; and
Describing the development of physical computing learning environments integrating sensor technology.

Prof. Dr. Mimi Recker
Dr. Colin Hennessy Elliott
Dr. Quentin Biddy
Guest Editors

Special Issue on special issue on Advances in Silicon Photonic Sensors
Submission Date: 2021-10-31

link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Silicon_Photonic_Sensors

Special Issue Information

Silicon-based photonic biosensors can lead to major advances in point-of-care applications, food diagnostics, and environmental monitoring through the rapid and precise analysis of various substances. Different techniques for evanescent field sensing, optical trapping and label-free detection are proposed and experimentally evaluated during the last three decades. One major advantage of silicon is the availability of inexpensive fabrication technologies due to the compatibility with microelectronic technologies but also its flexibility in terms of surface functionalization.

This Special Issue offers the possibility to gather recent improvements in the broad field of silicon-based photonic sensors. This includes bio and thermal sensing, novel detection methods and device concepts as well as fabrication techniques and packaging. Articles with latest experimental results as well as simulation studies are welcome.

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue with the latest results, research lines, and trends that you are currently obtaining or following. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Keywords
    Silicon photonic sensors
    Optical biosensors
    Sensor concepts and simulation
    Fabrication and packaging methods
    Porous silicon and novel materials
    Optofluidics
    Optical trapping
    Surface functionalization
    Label-free detection
    Photonic-plasmonic devices

Prof. Dr. Fabio De Matteis  (Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata)
Dr. Patrick Steglich   (Technische Hochschule Wildau, University of Applied Sciences)
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Advanced Multi-Band Antennas and Millimeter-Wave Components
Submission Date: 2021-10-31

Dear Colleagues,

Wireless communication is one of the fastest-growing fields of communication industry. This constant evolution fosters the antenna community to design new radiating systems capable of satisfying the market demands. Conventional antennas designed in a wireless communication system will operate in one frequency band. However, there is a need to design multiband or wideband antennas and components which can operate at multiple frequencies. In modern wireless communication systems, multiband antennas have derived rapidly increasing attention in which the downward compatibility and the roaming capability among multi-standards are demanded.

The objective of the present special issue is to present the latest advances in the field of multiband antennas and components for wireless communications.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, multi-band antennas and also to multi-band millimeter wave components (like multiband polarizers, transmittarray, reflectarrays, frequency selective surfaces etc.).

Keywords

    Dual Band
    Multi Band Antennas
    Dual Band Antennas
    Multifrequency Antennas
    multiband antenna array design
    multiband operation
    dual-band satellite communication

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/multi_band_antennas

Dr. Emilio Arnieri
Guest Editor

Special Issue on Cyber Risk in the Industrial Internet of Things
Submission Date: 2021-11-01

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/CR_IIoT

Dear Colleagues,

The next generation of industrial systems is going to be data-driven. Sensor data driven by the Internet of Things, both inside and outside of factories, will provide a digital thread connecting the factory floor with its products and customers. These “chatty” factories present immense opportunities for innovation, from improving products based on their use, to digital twins that fuse product redesign with intelligent re-manufacturing, all connected via industrial optimisation, and relationships between intelligent robotics and their human counterparts that are yet to be determined.

The opportunities are clear. However, with digital innovation comes inherent cyber risk. Sensor data from the wild can only be used if it flows into decision-making processes linked to industrial modernisation. How do we know that the integrity of sensor data is not being corrupted, either deliberately or otherwise? What are the cyber risks to digital twins and how could these impact industrial elements of new production processes? How do we ensure that data-driven decisions are transparent and auditable? Will the convergence of technology in the wild with traditionally isolated operational technology prove too high-risk for widespread adoption?

This Special Issue aims to provide a forum for the discussion of both opportunity and cyber risk arising from data-driven industrial Internet of Things, with a key focus on the critical factors that will both enable and restrict adoption.

Prof. Dr. Pete Burnap
Guest Editor

Special Issue on Multi-UAV Systems: Networks, Services and Energy Management
Submission Date: 2021-11-15

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/energy_UAV

Dear Colleagues,

The Guest Editors are inviting submissions to a Special Issue of Sensors on the subject area of “Multi-UAV Systems: Networks, Services and Energy Management”.

The presence of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), also known as drones, is rapidly growing regarding the capacity to provide a wide range of new commercial applications and services, such as emergency networks, healthcare, surveillance, disasters relief, search and rescue, agriculture, construction, cargo delivery, or even space exploration, and much more.

UAVs can support and exploit 5G capabilities, with cost-effective points of presence, to provide Internet coverage and different network services to ground users.

Implementations are facing important challenges. The duration of the services is usually longer than the battery life-time of the drones. New communication protocols are required. Softwarization technologies, such as NFV and SDN, are gaining traction to support the flexible provision of services on UAVs. Still, multiple technical challenges exist hindering their utilisation in this new study area. Machine Learning is envisioned as a fundamental technology in order to provide self-learning in centralized or distributed configurations.

This Special Issue will deal with novel architectures, strategies, modelling, control, optimization and artificial intelligence for efficient energy consumption and management of UAV systems in terms of the services provided.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to the following list:

Architectures, infrastructure and systems.
Energy policies for efficient consumption.
Distributed configuration and management of UAV networks.
NFV in UAV systems.
SDN in UAV systems.
Routing in UAV systems.
Self-learning UAV systems.
UAV systems aware protocols.
Network infrastructures and instant-networks using UAVs.
Security and privacy.
Modelling, performance analysis and optimization.
Energy aware services orchestration.
Usage scenarios, testbeds and experimental prototypes.
Machine learning and big data analytics for UAV.
Network slicing in UAVs systems.

Prof. Dr. Xavier Hesselbach
Prof. Dr. Francisco Valera
Prof. Dr. Iván Vidal
Prof. Christian Tipantuña
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Advanced Laser Phototherapy: Sensing and Applications
Submission Date: 2021-11-30

Dear Colleagues,

Lasers have been used in different therapy fields like dermatology, ophthalmology, dentistry and cancer therapy. Different physical processes are involved, depending on the wavelength being used, laser operation mode (continuous or pulsed), intensity and dose (or fluence) being applied. Ablation, photochemical and thermal interactions are the main mechanism than can be involved. Besides, the recent advances in nanotechnology have opened new possibilities for laser phototherapy techniques, using the phenomena of surface plasmon resonance to mediate the interaction processes.

This Special Issue of Sensors will address the sensing techniques and methodologies used in the research and development of advanced laser phototherapy processes, including (but not limited to) guiding strategies, monitoring and evaluation sensing.  Submissions regarding the development of sensors with potential application for laser phototherapy are also welcome.

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/laser_phototherapy

Keywords

    laser phototherapy
    photothermal therapy
    photodynamic therapy
    sensing
    sensors
    imaging
    process monitoring
    instrumentation

Dr. João M. P. Coelho
Dr. Pedro Vieira
Guest Editors

Special Issue on special issue on Volatile Organic Compounds Detection with Optical Fiber Sensors
Submission Date: 2021-11-30

link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/VOCs_Optical_Fiber_Sensors

Special Issue Information

The detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a critical aspect in many fields. For instance, in many industries, these compounds present a high environmental impact, and their emissions need to be carefully controlled. On the other hand, in the food and beverage industry, these can be indicators of the products’ quality. Their presence can also be associated with environmental contamination, poor air quality, or even with certain human diseases. Many optical fiber-based sensors have been proposed in the last years to detect VOCs, and this is still a very active research field.

This forthcoming Special Issue invites contributions regarding the research and development of new optical fiber sensors for the detection of VOCs, aiming at an advancement of the current state of the art. Short communications, original research experimental and theoretical papers, and review articles are welcomed for this Special Issue. These contributions can focus on, but are not limited to, the following topics: 

    VOCs sensors based on new optical fiber geometries;
    Interferometric fiber sensors;
    Fiber gratings-based sensors;
    Optofluidic fiber sensors;
    Fiber sensors based on Vernier effect;
    Sensors based on whispering gallery modes;
    Detection of a single or multiple VOCs;
    Active or passive fiber sensors;
    New coating materials;
    Advanced sensing configurations.

Dr. Marta S. Ferreira (i3N and Department of Physics, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitario de Santiago)
Guest Editor

Special Issue on special issue on Challenges in Energy Perspective on Mobile Sensor Networks
Submission Date: 2021-11-30

link:  https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Energy_Mobile_Sensor_Networks

Special Issue Information

Big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence change our way of life significantly. New data collection and utilization are crucial to enhance these technologies, and IoT technology for this improvement is continually evolving. Much research has been conducted on data collection/transmission technology and edge computing for data merging/security, but most research and utilization were performed only on fixed sensors. Therefore, mobile sensor technology has become necessary to remedy the defect of fixed sensors and to place sensors properly.

This Special Issue seeks a variety of technical activities for the mobile sensor network that will emerge, most importantly, in the data age. In this issue, we shall introduce technologies in various fields for mobile sensor networks such as mobile sensors, communication protocols, SDN (software-defined networking), NFV (network function virtualization), edge computing, wireless applications, and security, and provide opportunities to share new ideas with researchers around the world. Moreover, various new issues around computer science and electrical engineering, not limited to the above areas, will also be good material.

Keywords

    Wired/wireless mobile sensors
    Sensor deployment/relocation protocols
    Sensor communication/security protocols
    Sensor fault-tolerant/energy-efficient protocols
    VNF, NFV based on SDN for WSNs
    Edge computing for WSNs
    Simulation/numerical techniques
    Machine learning applications
    Applied electromagnetics for wireless applications

Prof. Dr. Moonseong Kim (Department of IT Convergence Software, Seoul Theological University)
Prof. Dr. Byungseok Kang  (Department of Electronics, Computing and Mathematics, University of Derby)
Guest Editors

Special Issue on  	Silicon Photonics: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Richard A. Soref
Submission Date: 2021-11-30

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/SPATIH

Dear Colleagues,

Prof. Richard A. Soref is a research professor of engineering at the University of Massachusetts, United States. Prof. Soref is a well-known expert in photonics and the science of light and considered by many as the "father of silicon photonics". Prof. Soref's career in basic and applied research spans more than 50 years.

Initially inspired by the fields of science, engineering, and materials in his youth, Prof. Soref acquired a radio license to become the youngest amateur radio operator in Wisconsin at the age of 13. During his career, he has contributed more than 550 peer-reviewed papers, authored chapters in eleven books, and served on the editorial board of Optical Engineering. He holds 54 U.S. patents. His work includes the invention of opto-electronic integration in silicon, significant contributions to SiGeSn material development and, since 1985, visionary, fundamental contributions to the science and technology of silicon photonics. Optical communications and sensing technology were also advanced by Prof. Soref's innovations in waveguide-circuit integration, electro-optical modulation, photonic crystals, nonlinear optics, matrix switching, optical logic, laser physics, plasmonic-photonics, microwave photonics, and infrared detection.

Active in multiple committees and organizations related to his work, Prof. Soref founded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Group IV Photonics Conference in 2004, which granted him a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. A Life Fellow of IEEE, he is also an Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the Optical Society of America, and the Institute of Physics, among others. He has also received multiple awards during his tenure, including the Achievement Medal of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in 2019, the Marquis Who’s Who Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, the U.S Air Force Basic Research Award in 1991, the Charles E. Ryan Memorial Award from Rome Laboratory in 1988, and several Air Force Office of Scientific Research Star Team Leader Awards between 2005 and 2011.

This Special Issue is dedicated to celebrating the career of Prof. Richard A. Soref in honor of his contributions in the field of silicon photonics. It will cover a selection of recent research and review articles related to the science and technology of silicon photonics, optical communications and sensing, nonlinear optics, laser physics, and infrared detection.

Dr. Vittorio M.N. Passaro
Dr. Francesco De Leonardis
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Advanced Laser Phototherapy: Sensing and Applications
Submission Date: 2021-11-30

Dear Colleagues,

Lasers have been used in different therapy fields like dermatology, ophthalmology, dentistry and cancer therapy. Different physical processes are involved, depending on the wavelength being used, laser operation mode (continuous or pulsed), intensity and dose (or fluence) being applied. Ablation, photochemical and thermal interactions are the main mechanism than can be involved. Besides, the recent advances in nanotechnology have opened new possibilities for laser phototherapy techniques, using the phenomena of surface plasmon resonance to mediate the interaction processes.

This Special Issue of Sensors will address the sensing techniques and methodologies used in the research and development of advanced laser phototherapy processes, including (but not limited to) guiding strategies, monitoring and evaluation sensing.  Submissions regarding the development of sensors with potential application for laser phototherapy are also welcome.

Keywords

    laser phototherapy
    photothermal therapy
    photodynamic therapy
    sensing
    sensors
    imaging
    process monitoring
    instrumentation

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/laser_phototherapy

Dr. João M. P. Coelho
Dr. Pedro Vieira
Guest Editors

Special Issue on special issue on Biosignal Sensing and Processing for Clinical Diagnosis
Submission Date: 2021-12-03

link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Biosignal_Sensing

Special Issue Information

Biosignals have a long history of use in the clinical diagnosis and follow-up of multiple pathologies, as is the case of the electrocardiogram in cardiology. Advances in sensing and computing, as well as the emergence of artificial intelligence, have driven a great advance in this field, expanding the diagnostic spectrum of traditionally used biosignals, improving biosignal quality, and opening the door to the use of new biosignals such as biochemical or biomagnetic signals. Obtaining valuable and clinically useful information is still challenging, involving the development and/or selection of the appropriate biosignal sensing systems and algorithms for automatic signal segmentation, denoising or artifact removal, signal parameterization, and feature selection. Recently, the challenge of obtaining information useful for clinical diagnosis has been addressed by the development of decision support systems via machine or deep learning. It is important to consider all of these developments in the context of their implementation in clinically friendly systems that minimize patient discomfort, are simple to use, and provide information that is easily interpretable by physicians in near real time.

The aim of the Special Issue “Biosignal Sensing and Processing for Clinical Diagnosis” is to collect a compendium of articles about new trends and advances in biosignal sensing and processing as well as their use in clinical decision support systems. We look forward to your participation in this Special Issue. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

    New trends in biosignal sensing;
    Biosignal processing and analysis: electrocardiographic, myoelectric, electroencephalographic, photoplethysmographic, gastric, biochemical, or biomagnetic signals, among others;
    Applications of machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence in using biosignals for clinical diagnosis.

Keywords

    biosignals
    biomedical sensors
    biomedical signal
    signal processing
    feature extraction
    machine learning
    deep learning

Dr. Gema Prats Boluda  (Centro de investigación e Innovación en Bioingeniería (Ci2B), Universitat Politècnica de València)
Dr. Javier Garcia-Casado  (Centro de investigación e Innovación en Bioingeniería (Ci2B), Universitat Politècnica de València)
Dr. Yvonne Tran (Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University)
Dr. Yiyao Ye-Lin  (Centro de investigación e Innovación en Bioingeniería (Ci2B), Universitat Politècnica de València)
Dr. José Luis Martinez de Juan  (Centro de investigación e Innovación en Bioingeniería (Ci2B), Universitat Politècnica de València)
Dr. Dongmei Hao (College of Life Science and Bioengineering, Beijing University of Technology )
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Advances and Applications of Micro/Nano-Electronic Sensors
Submission Date: 2021-12-15

Special Issue "Advances and Applications of Micro/Nano-Electronic Sensors"
Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/MicroNanoElectronicSensors
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 December 2021

Dear Colleagues,

Wearable electronics have started to gain momentum because of their essential role in improving the quality of life for various patients and healthy individuals. The function and performance of integrated NEMS/MEMS systems depend on the design of nano-/microsystems, choice of materials, manufacturing approaches, packaging, and device integration methods. It is also of high interest to investigate the interrelationships between material properties and processing, device/system structure, and the mechanical, electrical, optical, or (bio)chemical behavior of devices/systems. Resonant sensors are a type of sensor that relies on the measurement of resonant frequency to detect a variety of physical parameters such as pressure, temperatures, viscosity, gas concentrations, accelerations, etc. This type of sensor has drawn a significant amount of attention due to its excellent stability, resolution, and accuracy. In addition, this type of sensor allows devices to be easily connected to digital systems, which is required for its effective employment as a measurement device.

Keywords

    MEMS sensors
    piezoelectric sensors
    radio frequency sensors
    acoustic sensors
    microsystem design
    device/system structure
    fabrication techniques
    biomedical applications
    mechanical, electrical, optical, or (bio)chemical behavior of devices/systems

Prof. Dr. Huanyu Cheng
Prof. Dr. Haifeng Zhang
Dr. Zhiqun (Daniel) Deng
Guest Editors

Special Issue on MEMS and NEMS Sensors
Submission Date: 2021-12-31

Special Issue "MEMS and NEMS Sensors"
Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/MEMS_NEME_sensors
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021

Dear Colleagues,

The manufacturing and integration of autonomous and embedded sensors through a combination of micro- and nano-system technologies have been revolutionizing self-powered, high bandwidth devices for advance manufacturing (AM), artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and health technologies.

More specifically, nano- and micro-electro-mechanical-systems (N/MEMS) sensors are the building blocks for a vast range of applications, from continuous real-time health (wearable) and environmental monitoring (gas, biomolecules, pressure, temperature, etc.) to enabling embedded mobile Internet services (wireless), including smart/connected cars and unattended vehicles (UAV) (inertial). As these devices have numbered in the tens of billions, the potential for disruptive innovation has been immense.

Integration of nano- and micro-sensors-which are functionalized using emerging materials to complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS) and microfluidics systems, and their electro-mechanical packing are very challenging. Because, the integration and packing require the multiple deposition of layers of different dielectrics and metals, the atomic mismatch between these layers, acting as electron trap, increases ohmic resistance, and creates noise and reduces sensitivity, selectivity and responsivity; and increases detection time.

This Special Issue aims to introduce the manufacturing, packaging and integration of autonomous and embedded sensors through a combination of micro- and nano-system. Topics in general include, but are not limited, to:

- Autonomous and embedded sensors: design, manufacture, packaging and reliability
- Biosensors (photonic, electrical, chemical) and their integration to MEMS, CMOS and microfluidic systems for COVID-19 and other (future) pandemics’ roteins/metabolites/analytes
- Sensor interconnectors/interfaces and their testing
- Graphene-based nano-sensors
- Electronic circuits for MEMS nano-sensor modulation
- Nano-electro-mechanical sensors

Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yavuz
Guest Editor

Keywords

    N/MEMS-sensors
    sensor integration to N/MEMS
    CMOS and microfluidic systems
    electronic circuits for N/MEMS nano-sensor modulation
    bifurcation sensing
    sensor functionalization
    Nano-electro-mechanical sensors
    PeCOD
    COVID-19

Special Issue on Assistive Robots for Healthcare and Human-Robot Interaction
Submission Date: 2021-12-31

Dear Colleagues,

Assistive technologies like Assistive Robots (AR) are being considered as enablers to support the process of care giving, potentially enhancing patient well-being and decreasing caregiver workload. Currently, it needs to deepen the research about person-centered care, multimodal interaction, multimodal data collection, caregiver expectancy model to improve AR acceptability.

In light of these assumptions, the Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) field is devoted to understanding, designing, and assessing the robotic systems used by human being.

By definition, the interaction implicates the communication. In light of this assumption, research in the HRI field is increasingly focused on the development of robots equipped with intelligent communicative abilities, in particular speech-based natural-language conversational abilities. These efforts directly relate to the research area of computational linguistics, generally defined as “the subfield of computer science concerned with using computational techniques to learn, understand, and produce human language content”. The advances and results in computational linguistics provide a foundational background for the development of so-called Spoken Dialogue Systems, i.e., computer systems designed to interact with humans using spoken natural language. The ability to communicate using natural language is a fundamental requirement for a robot that interacts with human being. Then, spoken dialogue is generally considered as the most natural way for social human-robot interaction. The sensing technologies represent a key role in the HRI and new approaches or application of existing ones in novel way could be really significant in facilitating the improvement of this field and consequently in all the sub-fields related to it.

The central focus of this Special Issues will be to advance novel technologies applied in healthcare processes that have shown exceptional promise in models of HRI though the use of new sensors or methodologies capable to adapt, combine or improve the existing ones.  

The first important question concerns the modalities needed to sense the emotional state of people by the robot. Secondly, there is the problem of modelling the interaction between human and robot, not only on a haptic level, but also on an emotional level.

Dr. Grazia D'Onofrio
Dr. Daniele Sancarlo
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Advanced Quantum Diamond Sensors and Applications
Submission Date: 2021-12-31

Dear Colleagues,

There is as growing body of knowledge demonstrating the quantum sensing capabilities of atomic scale defects within diamond. Over the past decade significant advances in the science and technology underpinning quantum diamond sensors have been realised opening up a broad range of measurement capabilities. To date methodologies for ultra-sensitive detection of magnetic fields, electric fields and temperature have been widely reported. Globally, significant research efforts and investment are being directed towards the further development of quantum diamond sensors and demonstration of their measurement capabilities. There is tremendous potential for deployment of quantum diamond sensors in electrical and thermal monitoring in electric vehicle batteries, high resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopy to uncover the chemical structures at a single molecule level, novel microwave sensors for use in the telecommunication sector, characterisation of future materials including spintronics devices and nanomaterials. Overall, quantum diamond sensors provide unprecedented measurement sensitivity and are poised to become essential tools across many sectors. This Special Issue on “Advanced Quantum Diamond Sensors and Applications” has the objective of showcasing current and emerging technologies that exploit the quantum assisted sensing capabilities of diamond. Reports describing new methodologies, materials, technical developments and applications are particularly welcome.

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/quantum_diamond_sensors

Keywords

    biological imaging
    diamond quantum sensors
    optical microscopy
    healthcare technologies

Prof. Dr. Melissa L. Mather
Prof. Dr. Philippe B. Wilson
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Camera Calibration and 3D Reconstruction
Submission Date: 2021-12-31

Dear Colleagues,

The importance of accurate image-based assessment of 3D objects and scenes is rapidly growing in the fields of computer vision (cf. AR/VR, autonomous driving, aerial surveillance, etc.) and optical metrology (photogrammetry, fringe projection, deflectometry, etc.). As the performance of digital sensors and optics approaches physical limits, uncertainties associated with models of imaging geometry, calibration workflows and data types, pattern recognition algorithms etc. directly affect numerous applications.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute manuscripts to this Special Issue. It addresses the metrological aspects of modeling, characterizing, and using digital cameras in the context of 3D measurements, as well as novel analytic (e.g., visualization) tools and techniques facilitating robust and reliable camera-based measurements. Both original research articles and reviews are welcome.

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/camera_calibration_3D_reconstruction

Keywords

    camera calibration
    geometrical camera models
    image-based 3D reconstruction
    uncertainties in optical 3D measurements
    shape-from-X techniques
    high-precision camera-based measurements
    non-conventional imaging systems for 3D measurements
    computational imaging for 3D measurements

We look forward to receiving your contributions. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any comments or questions.

Dr. Alexey Pak
Prof. Dr. Steffen Reichel
Dr. Jan Burke
Guest Editors

Special Issue on special issue on Cyber-Security-Based Internet of Things for Smart Homes
Submission Date: 2021-12-31

link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Cyber-Security_IoT_Smart_Homes

Special Issue Information

The rapidly evolving technology of the Internet of Things introduces new cybersecurity challenges, especially where installations handle and process personal and private data. As such, smart homes constitute an ecosystem which is prone to new complex cyberattacks and attractive to attackers.

This Special Issue aims to present recent advances in new techniques for the cyber defense of smart homes, by taking advantage of recent developments in machine, deep and federated learning, distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain, as well as behavioral monitoring of IoT devices. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

    Cybersecurity architectures for IoT and smart homes;
    Cybersecurity analytics platforms for IoT;
    Blockchain for IoT and smart homes;
    Machine and deep learning for the security of IoT;
    Behavioral monitoring of IoT;
    Federated IoT smart home infrastructures with focus on security and privacy;
    Cyberthreat intelligence;
    AI-based methods for malware and ransomware;
    Privacy and trust in IoT.

Keywords

    Smart homes
    Internet of Things
    Cyber security
    Privacy
    Intrusion detection systems
    Network behavior analysis
    Machine/deep/federated learning
    Distributed ledger technologies

Dr. Konstantinos Votis   (Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas)
Dr. Konstantinos M. Giannoutakis  (Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas)
Dr. Nikolaos Dimitriou   (Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas)
Guest Editors

Special Issue on special issue on Human Centered Artificial Intelligence: Putting the Human in the Loop for Implementing Sensors Based Intelligent Environments
Submission Date: 2021-12-31

SI LINK: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Artificial_Intelligence_Implementing_Sensors

Special Issue Information:
This Special Issue aims to solicit original and high quality research articles that consider the current evolvement of AI approaches under a human-centric approach in the development of intelligent environments. Exceptional contributions that extend previously published work will also be considered, provided that they contribute at least 60% new results. Authors of such submissions will be required to provide a clear indication of the new contributions and explain how this work extends the previously published contributions.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

    Active machine learning
    Adaptive personal AI systems
    Causal learning, causal discovery, causal reasoning, causal explanations, and causal inference
    Cognitive computing
    Decision making and decision support systems
    Emotional intelligence
    Explainable, accountable, transparent, and fair AI
    Explanatory user interfaces and HCI for explainable AI
    Ethical and trustworthy AI
    Federated learning and cooperative intelligent information systems and tools
    Gradient-based interpretability
    Interaction modalities and devices: visual, 2D/3D, augmented reality, simulations, digital twin, conversational interfaces, and multimodal interfaces
    Interactive machine learning
    Interpretability in reinforcement learning
    Human–AI interactions and intelligent user interfaces
    Human–AI teaming
    Natural language generation for explanatory models
    Processes, tools, methods, user involvement, user research, evaluation, AI technology assessment and customization, and standards
    Rendering of reasoning processes
    Self-explanatory agents and decision support systems
    Usability of human–AI interfaces

Dr. Constantine Stephanidis  (1. Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Institute of Computer Science (ICS), Human Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCI Lab); 2. Department of Computer Science, University of Crete)
Dr. George Margetis  (Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH), Institute of Computer Science (ICS), Human Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCI Lab))
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Assistive Robots for Healthcare and Human-Robot Interaction
Submission Date: 2021-12-31

Dear Colleagues,

Assistive technologies like Assistive Robots (AR) are being considered as enablers to support the process of care giving, potentially enhancing patient well-being and decreasing caregiver workload. Currently, it needs to deepen the research about person-centered care, multimodal interaction, multimodal data collection, caregiver expectancy model to improve AR acceptability.

In light of these assumptions, the Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) field is devoted to understanding, designing, and assessing the robotic systems used by human being.

By definition, the interaction implicates the communication. In light of this assumption, research in the HRI field is increasingly focused on the development of robots equipped with intelligent communicative abilities, in particular speech-based natural-language conversational abilities. These efforts directly relate to the research area of computational linguistics, generally defined as “the subfield of computer science concerned with using computational techniques to learn, understand, and produce human language content”. The advances and results in computational linguistics provide a foundational background for the development of so-called Spoken Dialogue Systems, i.e., computer systems designed to interact with humans using spoken natural language. The ability to communicate using natural language is a fundamental requirement for a robot that interacts with human being. Then, spoken dialogue is generally considered as the most natural way for social human-robot interaction. The sensing technologies represent a key role in the HRI and new approaches or application of existing ones in novel way could be really significant in facilitating the improvement of this field and consequently in all the sub-fields related to it.

The central focus of this Special Issues will be to advance novel technologies applied in healthcare processes that have shown exceptional promise in models of HRI though the use of new sensors or methodologies capable to adapt, combine or improve the existing ones.  

The first important question concerns the modalities needed to sense the emotional state of people by the robot. Secondly, there is the problem of modelling the interaction between human and robot, not only on a haptic level, but also on an emotional level.

Keywords

    development of new sensing methodologies to facilitate the HRI
    improvement of existing technologies in HRI
    application of multimodal approaches in HRI
    role of emotional detection in the HRI
    ethical aspects of HRI
    value sensitive design in care robotics
    patient centeredness
    acceptability and usability assessment
    impact of robot embodiment and how this affected the interactions

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/assisstive_robots_healthcare

Dr. Grazia D'Onofrio
Dr. Daniele Sancarlo
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Advanced Quantum Diamond Sensors and Applications
Submission Date: 2021-12-31

Dear Colleagues,

There is as growing body of knowledge demonstrating the quantum sensing capabilities of atomic scale defects within diamond. Over the past decade significant advances in the science and technology underpinning quantum diamond sensors have been realised opening up a broad range of measurement capabilities. To date methodologies for ultra-sensitive detection of magnetic fields, electric fields and temperature have been widely reported. Globally, significant research efforts and investment are being directed towards the further development of quantum diamond sensors and demonstration of their measurement capabilities. There is tremendous potential for deployment of quantum diamond sensors in electrical and thermal monitoring in electric vehicle batteries, high resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopy to uncover the chemical structures at a single molecule level, novel microwave sensors for use in the telecommunication sector, characterisation of future materials including spintronics devices and nanomaterials. Overall, quantum diamond sensors provide unprecedented measurement sensitivity and are poised to become essential tools across many sectors. This Special Issue on “Advanced Quantum Diamond Sensors and Applications” has the objective of showcasing current and emerging technologies that exploit the quantum assisted sensing capabilities of diamond. Reports describing new methodologies, materials, technical developments and applications are particularly welcome.

Keywords

    biological imaging
    diamond quantum sensors
    optical microscopy
    healthcare technologies

Prof. Dr. Melissa L. Mather
Prof. Dr. Philippe B. Wilson
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Camera Calibration and 3D Reconstruction
Submission Date: 2021-12-31

Dear Colleagues,

The importance of accurate image-based assessment of 3D objects and scenes is rapidly growing in the fields of computer vision (cf. AR/VR, autonomous driving, aerial surveillance, etc.) and optical metrology (photogrammetry, fringe projection, deflectometry, etc.). As the performance of digital sensors and optics approaches physical limits, uncertainties associated with models of imaging geometry, calibration workflows and data types, pattern recognition algorithms etc. directly affect numerous applications.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute manuscripts to this Special Issue. It addresses the metrological aspects of modeling, characterizing, and using digital cameras in the context of 3D measurements, as well as novel analytic (e.g., visualization) tools and techniques facilitating robust and reliable camera-based measurements. Both original research articles and reviews are welcome.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any comments or questions.

Keywords

    camera calibration
    geometrical camera models
    image-based 3D reconstruction
    uncertainties in optical 3D measurements
    shape-from-X techniques
    high-precision camera-based measurements
    non-conventional imaging systems for 3D measurements
    computational imaging for 3D measurements

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/camera_calibration_3D_reconstruction

Dr. Alexey Pak
Prof. Dr. Steffen Reichel
Dr. Jan Burke
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Multistage Manufacturing Processes in the Industry 4.0 for Zero-Defect Products
Submission Date: 2022-01-01

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/mul_manu

Dear Colleagues,

One of the most important challenges in modern industry is the implementation of manufacturing systems that are capable of producing “zero-defect” products. In most cases, manufacturing consists of a sequence of stages where manufacturing operations are sequentially conducted to manufacture a part or product. These multistage manufacturing processes (MMP) show complex error interactions among stages, which makes it difficult to control product quality, and tasks such as predictive maintenance, process control, quality assurance and fault diagnosis are challenging.

Under the new paradigm of Industry 4.0, sensing networks based on IIoT and the implementation of digital twins based on engineering and data-based models is set to have a major impact on these processes. The implementation of this new paradigm is expected to lead to manufacturing systems with self-adjust and self-optimization capabilities, optimal decision making based on simulated-driven strategies, correction actions for error compensation, optimal predictive maintenance actions, and so on.

In this Special Issue, we encourage scholars to share recent advances in the field of MMPs and Industry 4.0. Investigations related to in-process sensing and data analytics, IIoT, fault diagnosis, digital twins, predictive maintenance, quality assurance and quality control are welcome, especially those focused on strategies for “zero defect” manufacturing.

Prof. Dr. Jose Vicente Abellan-Nebot
Prof. Dr. Ignacio Peñarrocha-Alós
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Sensors for Digital Construction
Submission Date: 2022-01-01

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Digi_Constru

Dear Colleagues,

Detailed insights into the ongoing processes of construction projects are a prerequisite for an efficient management of time, costs, and resources. However, providing relevant information requires the analysis of vast amounts of data. A consistent digitization throughout all phases of a project facilitates a proper aggregation of these data, as well as an automated evaluation. While digital building models already support decision making during project planning, other domains are only sparsely digitized.

The use of sensors helps to advance digitization in construction through the automated collection of time-dependent data. It allows for a continuous localization of resources and materials as well as the monitoring of construction machines and their states. This enables a digital monitoring of construction projects through their entire life cycle and supports the management in optimizing workflows, scheduling maintenance, improving safety, and so on.

This Special Issue focuses on the application of sensors in construction-related domains and the processing of the collected data. Relevant topics include but are not limited to:

Digital twin
Internet of Things
Safety
Productivity
Maintenance

Prof. Dr. Markus König
Guest Editor

Special Issue on Machine Learning in Human Activity Recognition
Submission Date: 2022-01-31

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/ML_HAR

Dear Colleagues,

Human Activity Recognition (HAR) using pervasive and body-worn sensors has become a major research field with numerous practical applications. At the heart of most HAR systems lies the automated analysis of sensor readings, for which machine learning techniques are typically applied. With the explosion of research in the core machine learning area, numerous methods have been developed that are also of value for the HAR community. However, HAR comes with its own challenges for machine learning methods, such as challenging data quality, including sensor noise, faulty sensor readings, or ambiguities; often only very small datasets come with ground truth annotation; computational challenges for performing activity recognition in real time and on severely resource constrained devices; open ended activity recognition; and continuous adaptation of recognition systems, to name but a few. This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art and latest developments in the field of machine learning for human activity recognition. 

Prof. Dr. Thomas Ploetz
Dr. Yu Guan
Prof. Dr. Daniel Roggen
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Wearables and Modern Technology for Sports Medicine: The Digital Age of Athletes
Submission Date: 2022-02-01

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/wearable_sports

Dear Colleagues,

Sports engineering has led to modern technology substantially increasing and advancing in the field of sport and exercise medicine over the past decade. The interest in sports engineering aligns with the increased provision for sports medicine within professional and amateur sport, with multidisciplinary teams of professionals now employed to keep athletes healthy and continuing to perform to a high standard: medics, physiotherapists, nutritionists, strength and conditioning experts, etc. Technological development is creating more objective and accurate assessment tools that can augment the clinical reasoning/judgement that sports medicine decisions typically rely on.

Digital health approaches are being developed at a rapid pace, with increasingly smaller and more discrete sensors/devices/applications that are able to collect data on all aspects of athlete health and performance on and off the field of play (in or out of competition). This Special Issue will focus on the technology that has been applied within sporting contexts and relevant populations to support sports medicine, particularly the following topics:

Wearable sensing and mobile technology;
Concussion assessment and management;
Diet and nutrition tracking or intervention;
Physical activity or performance metrics;
Cardiovascular screening;
Lower limb injury and player biometrics;
Pitch-side assessment and management;
Injury or performance evaluation and management;
Novel technology in amateur and elite sport.

Dr. Sam Stuart
Dr. Steven Marshall
Dr. Alan Godfrey
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Prototyping of Industrial IoT Solutions
Submission Date: 2022-02-15

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/proto_IIoT

Dear Colleagues, 

The Industrial Internet of Things (I-IoT) is widely considered a key enabling technology of the fourth industrial revolution (I-4.0). The bridging of industrial assets with cloud infrastructures will allow the generation of many digital twins. I-IoT will fuel a multitude of innovation processes aimed at optimizing industrial processes and methods. However, the introduction of industrial IoT technologies into factories is a complex and cumbersome activity. Researchers, technicians, and entrepreneurs interested in bringing IoT into shop floors need to deal with reliability, scalability, compatibility, and security issues that are more complex in industrial environments than in consumer and domestic scenarios. Evolution from IoT to Industrial IoT requires a dedicated design process where the prototyping phase becomes crucial. Companies need to reduce the investment required for testing I-4.0 and I-IoT solutions, thus increasing the Return of Investment (ROI) while minimizing the impact on production and organization. Moreover, Industry 4.0 pushes companies and factories toward lean production strategies where fast prototyping in R&D processes is mandatory. For this reason, there is a strong need for reliable and secure fast prototyping solutions for Industrial IoT that, while guaranteeing a fast and cost-effective implementation of proof of concept, also guarantee future scalability toward extended, secure, stable and professional industrial setups.

Prof. Dr. Daniele Mazzei
Prof. Dr. Dorota Stadnicka
Dr. Joan Navarro
Prof. Dr. Chrysostomos Stylios
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Lannaccone
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Advanced Sensor Networks/Seismic Networks and Monitoring for Earthquakes and Phenomena Having a Seismic Signature 
Submission Date: 2022-03-12

Dear Colleagues,
 
The study of earthquakes is of global interest, mainly because the comprehension of such phenomena is useful to safeguard human lives. To this aim, tools (such as seismic networks and arrays, but also data analysis procedures) by which detect and localize from small to large magnitudes earthquakes quickly and accurately are fundamental. Since the last few years, advances in technology have allowed seismologists to design seismic networks more and more sophisticated (with boreholes or ocean bottom sensors). At the same time, potentially interesting seismological information can be obtained by instruments developed for different purposes (e.g., optical fiber, geophones, rotational sensors).
Besides earthquakes, there are many phenomena that we are able to record with seismic networks; they are both of natural origin (as volcanic eruptions, landslides, sinkholes, weather events, meteorite impacts), and anthropogenic (as underground fluid injections, quarry blasts, nuclear explosions, etc.).
In this special issue we aim to collect scientific papers focused on advanced techniques of seismic monitoring or data analysis of natural and anthropogenic events. Also, contributions from studies carried out by ‘unconventional’ seismic networks are welcome.

    tectonic and induced earthquakes
    fiber DAS networks
    no earthquakes seismic signature events
    rotational sensors
    off-shore seismicity location improvements
    seismic information from unconventional sensors

Dr. Mario Anselmi
Dr. Aladino Govoni
Dr. Cristina Totaro
Dr. Maria Adelaide Romano
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Advanced Sensor Networks/Seismic Networks and Monitoring for Earthquakes and Phenomena Having a Seismic Signature
Submission Date: 2022-03-12

Dear Colleagues,
 
The study of earthquakes is of global interest, mainly because the comprehension of such phenomena is useful to safeguard human lives. To this aim, tools (such as seismic networks and arrays, but also data analysis procedures) by which detect and localize from small to large magnitudes earthquakes quickly and accurately are fundamental. Since the last few years, advances in technology have allowed seismologists to design seismic networks more and more sophisticated (with boreholes or ocean bottom sensors). At the same time, potentially interesting seismological information can be obtained by instruments developed for different purposes (e.g., optical fiber, geophones, rotational sensors).
Besides earthquakes, there are many phenomena that we are able to record with seismic networks; they are both of natural origin (as volcanic eruptions, landslides, sinkholes, weather events, meteorite impacts), and anthropogenic (as underground fluid injections, quarry blasts, nuclear explosions, etc.).
In this special issue we aim to collect scientific papers focused on advanced techniques of seismic monitoring or data analysis of natural and anthropogenic events. Also, contributions from studies carried out by ‘unconventional’ seismic networks are welcome.

    tectonic and induced earthquakes
    fiber DAS networks
    no earthquakes seismic signature events
    rotational sensors
    off-shore seismicity location improvements
    seismic information from unconventional sensors

Keywords

    seismic networks
    seismic arrays
    seismic monitoring
    earthquakes
    induced seismicity
    natural and anthropogenic events
    fiber DAS
    geophones
    rotational sensors

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/Seismic_network_monitoring

Dr. Mario Anselmi
Dr. Aladino Govoni
Dr. Cristina Totaro
Dr. Maria Adelaide Romano
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Data and Privacy Management in Sensor Networks
Submission Date: 2022-03-30

Dear Colleagues,

Recent years have witnessed a widespread interest in innovative sensor networks capable of providing valuable data for various applications (e.g., home automation, energy management), the connected objects and environments impact numerous application domains. From smart homes and buildings to cities, vehicle networks, and electrical grids, they have become a novel trend that is revolutionizing how people interact with their surroundings, how they accomplish their daily tasks in the workplace, and how they handle their health security, and safety. Sensor networks markets are currently booming and are projected to continue their growth for the years to come. The rising interest in intelligent connected environments (e.g., smart buildings, cities, factories) and the evolution of sensors, data management/communication technologies have paved the way for exciting and valuable applications that help users in their everyday tasks (e.g., increasing comfort, reducing energy consumption).

Indeed, the sensor network ecosystem have made it easy to collect and exchange a large amount of data, connect heterogeneous systems, create complex systems for new forms of collaboration and interoperability. Typically, the sensed data are transmitted to the edge nodes, or directly to the cloud/server where it will be stored, indexed, processed and analysed to offer a new class of advanced services, such as envirenement monitoring, objects tracking, event detection, advanced data analytics, etc. Despite the progress made, however, data and privacy management in sensor networks remains a core and challenging issues. In fact, due to the nature of sensor networks, there exist complexity in gathering, aggregation, indexing, storage, processing and analysing big data generated by resource-constrained sensor nodes per unit time. Furthermore, sensor networks also impose new challenges related to knowledge discovery and decision-making automation, security, privacy, and trust.

This special issue will promote the state-of-the-art research covering all aspects of the data and privacy management in sensor networks. High quality contributions addressing related theoretical and practical aspects are expected. The topics of interest for this special issue include, but are not limited to :

    Modelling, simulation of sensor networks
    Architecture and Protocols for sensor networks
    Data gathering, storage and aggregation in sensor networks
    Data processing, indexing and discovery in sensor networks
    Data analytics solutions for sensor networks
    Knowledge discovery and decision-making automation in sensor networks
    Modelling, analysis, simulation, and verification of security, privacy, and trustworthiness for sensor networks
    Detection, evaluation, and prevention of threats and attacks in sensor networks
    Data security, privacy, and trustworthiness in sensor networks

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors/special_issues/data_privacy_management_sensor_network

Dr. Richard Chbeir
Dr. Taoufik Yeferny
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Data and Privacy Management in Sensor Networks
Submission Date: 2022-03-30

Dear Colleagues,

Recent years have witnessed a widespread interest in innovative sensor networks capable of providing valuable data for various applications (e.g., home automation, energy management), the connected objects and environments impact numerous application domains. From smart homes and buildings to cities, vehicle networks, and electrical grids, they have become a novel trend that is revolutionizing how people interact with their surroundings, how they accomplish their daily tasks in the workplace, and how they handle their health security, and safety. Sensor networks markets are currently booming and are projected to continue their growth for the years to come. The rising interest in intelligent connected environments (e.g., smart buildings, cities, factories) and the evolution of sensors, data management/communication technologies have paved the way for exciting and valuable applications that help users in their everyday tasks (e.g., increasing comfort, reducing energy consumption).

Indeed, the sensor network ecosystem have made it easy to collect and exchange a large amount of data, connect heterogeneous systems, create complex systems for new forms of collaboration and interoperability. Typically, the sensed data are transmitted to the edge nodes, or directly to the cloud/server where it will be stored, indexed, processed and analysed to offer a new class of advanced services, such as envirenement monitoring, objects tracking, event detection, advanced data analytics, etc. Despite the progress made, however, data and privacy management in sensor networks remains a core and challenging issues. In fact, due to the nature of sensor networks, there exist complexity in gathering, aggregation, indexing, storage, processing and analysing big data generated by resource-constrained sensor nodes per unit time. Furthermore, sensor networks also impose new challenges related to knowledge discovery and decision-making automation, security, privacy, and trust.

This special issue will promote the state-of-the-art research covering all aspects of the data and privacy management in sensor networks. High quality contributions addressing related theoretical and practical aspects are expected. The topics of interest for this special issue include, but are not limited to :

    Modelling, simulation of sensor networks
    Architecture and Protocols for sensor networks
    Data gathering, storage and aggregation in sensor networks
    Data processing, indexing and discovery in sensor networks
    Data analytics solutions for sensor networks
    Knowledge discovery and decision-making automation in sensor networks
    Modelling, analysis, simulation, and verification of security, privacy, and trustworthiness for sensor networks
    Detection, evaluation, and prevention of threats and attacks in sensor networks
    Data security, privacy, and trustworthiness in sensor networks

Dr. Richard Chbeir
Dr. Taoufik Yeferny
Guest Editors

Special Issue on Lifetime Extension Framework for Wireless Sensor Networks
Submission Date: 2022-03-30

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past decades, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have experienced exceptional growth, their success reflecting their continuously increasing areas of application (e.g., area monitoring, environmental sensing, threat detection, etc.). Besides, the integration of WSNs in the IoT allows the latter to penetrate deeply into our daily lives and provide various convenient services enabling users to access, use, and process information collected from sensors through smart devices.

On the one hand, WSN devices' small size and low cost allow for development in large-scale environments. On the other hand, in the absence of infrastructure (due to their wireless nature), their operation depends on their limited batteries' energy supply. As a result of the limitations deriving from the low-capacity batteries, the lifetime of a WSN is inextricably linked to them. Thus, the framework underlying the devices' energy usage plays a vital role in the network's overall energy consumption and lifetime. For example, minimizing the number of packet transmissions among the WSN nodes or choosing a better location for the sink node can result in a lifetime extension.

Apart from optimizing the energy consumption, another way to increase a WSN's lifetime is to find an optimal way to recharge its nodes' batteries. In these so-called Rechargeable Wireless Sensor Networks (RWSNs), a vehicle (e.g., an unmanned autonomous vehicle, a drone, etc.) able to recharge the nodes' batteries is implemented and moves among the nodes replenishing their batteries. To take advantage of this procedure and maximize the lifetime of the RWSN and the recharging vehicle itself, a framework (or policy) on which the recharging vehicle bases its operation must be considered. This framework has to take into account issues such as the minimization of the distance travelled by the recharging vehicle to recharge the nodes, the optimization of the number of visited (for a replenishment) nodes, the minimization of the energy consumption of the vehicle, among others.

This Special Issue invites original research papers on new frameworks, algorithms, protocols, architectures, technologies, and solutions for extending the lifetime of a WSN (or RWSN). Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

- Lifetime extension

- Energy consumption optimization

- Energy-efficient routing

- Load balancing

- Optimal location of WSN nodes

- Optimal location of sink node(s)

- Machine learning-based WSN techniques

- AI-enabled routing

- Optimal data collection

- Data reduction/compression

- Wireless energy transfer techniques

- Joint information and energy transfer

- Energy harvesting

- Recharging vehicles

- Simulation tools

- Physical layer challenges, issues, and solutions

- Mobile edge/fog computing

- Manuscript Submission Information

- Placeholder to add info for submission process, charge, etc.  

Dr. Konstantinos Oikonomou
Dr. Constantinos Angelis
Dr. Georgios Tsoumanis
Guest Editors

Special Issue on 2D Material for Sensors Application
Submission Date: 2022-03-31

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is devoted to the reports on 2D-based sensors. 2D materials is a fast-developing field of material science. Graphene and other 2D materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), and transition metal oxides (TMOs), have attracted significant attention as supporting substrates in a wide variety of biosensing technologies. Due to recent success in the synthesis and engineering of 2D materials, new functionalities became possible by defect engineering, creating heterostructures with various nanomaterials as well as chemical and molecular doping. Although other nanomaterials like carbon nanotubes exhibit as well some degree of tunability, 2D materials due to their planar nature are more compatible with modern fabrication techniques and device integration. Thanks to the thin nature of 2D materials with a large area-to-volume ratio and various reaction sites they are very sensitive to the state of the surface. The 2D material family contains a variety of electronic properties, spanning from metallic/semimetallic (e.g. graphene) to semiconducting (e.g. MoS2, WS2) to insulating (e.g. h-BN). Importantly, through functionalization or defect engineering of 2D materials one can modify the surface chemistry and thus tailor them to selectively respond to certain analytes with extremely high sensitivity. Furthermore, 2D material-based sensors can be fabricated with miniaturised dimensions and feature flexibility, transparency and mechanical strength. All these unique properties make 2D materials excellent candidates for sensing applications.

Dr. Dmitry K. Polyushkin
Guest Editor