Call for papers: "Hybrid Environments and the Real World Internet"

For a special issue of the International Journal of Intelligent Engineering Informatics.

This special issue will look into the possibilities that smart objects raise for various types of networks including wired, wireless and cellular, and how new services and applications can be deployed and managed with them within the context of the surrounding environment.

Smart objects incorporate monitoring as well as control functions, and need to communicate with each other (or other systems) and with gateways. In many cases, communication is based on wireless sensor networks integrated within an object, such as parts of a building, logistic goods, vehicles or environmental sensors and actuators. In other cases, communication is based on a hybrid approach, where part of the network is infrastructure-based, while the rest has a varying, self-organising topology. Several solutions and applications proposed bridge different research perspectives and are characterised by the involvement of different disciplines.

Currently, many research groups are working on technologies to form a Real World Internet (RWI) where all kinds of (typically resource-constrained and wirelessly connected) devices will extend networking and processing capacity to the physical world. Application development for the RWI is complex as it unites the challenges of distributed applications and embedded programming and may often involve sociocultural and quality of experience requirements. In addition, heterogeneity, unpredictable environmental influences, the size of the networks, as well as implications stemming from the requirements for public or open use further complicates the picture.

We invite authors to submit papers reporting original, previously unpublished research which addresses this new area.

Suitable topics include but are not limited to:

• Evolutionary approaches based on current IP-centered architectures
• Revolutionary designs and new paradigms for real world internet applications in various environments
• Experimental/testbed, empirical studies as well as implementation/industry results (including field trials)
• Frameworks, models and broader classifications that can act as foundations regarding hybrid environments and the real world internet
• Strategies, models and paradigms for developing public hybrid ecosystems that involve co-creation of products and services with their stakeholders, users or the wider public
• Models and approaches of real world internet applications deployment for various environments (from personal environments to urban-scale)
• Adaptive and user-centered applications for various environments (from personal and domestic to public and urban-scale)

Important Dates
Submissions due: 15 January, 2014 (extended)