IJSWIS Special issue on semantic technologies for Sensor Networks, Internet of Things and Smart Devices.
Special issue of the International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems

Editors: Kerry Taylor (CSIRO Australia) and Payam Barnaghi (University of Surrey)


Semantic technologies are often proposed as important components of complex, cross-jurisdictional, heterogeneous, dynamic information systems. In recent years, there has been significant progress in the number and capabilities of mobile devices, wireless sensors and actuators, and sensor and actuator networks. These developments, combined with the improving ability to bridge between the physical and cyber world in a more seamless way, have fostered the broad availability of sensor data capturing the state of the physical world.

Promising and already successful examples are applications in environmental monitoring, healthcare, agriculture, surveillance and intrusion detection, public security, and supply chain management. Building on these successes, ideas about large scale, decentralized open networks of sensing devices and other “things” have been proposed. In particular, terms like "Internet of Things", “Web of Things”, "Collaborating Objects" and "Ambient Intelligence" emphasize the trend towards a tighter connection between the cyber space and the physical world. To achieve this vision, there is a need for scalable and interoperable networking systems to support the challenging requirements for future Internet and Web: secure, reliable, energy-efficient and cost-effective large-scale sensor networks, Machine-to-Machine communications and information networking architectures suitable for low end devices through to high end consumers.

It is estimated that today there are 4 billion mobile devices that can act as sensors, including active and passive RFID tags. This is complemented by an even larger number of fixed sensors recording observations of a wide variety of modalities. Geographically distributed sensor nodes are capable of forming ad hoc networking topologies, with nodes expected to be dynamically inserted and removed from a network. The sensors are increasingly being connected with Web infrastructure, and the Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) standard developed by the Open Geospatial Consortium is widely being adopted in industry, government and academia alike. While such frameworks provide some interoperability, semantics is increasingly seen as key enabler for integration of sensor data and broader Web information systems. Analytical and reasoning capabilities afforded by Semantic Web standards and technologies are considered important for developing advanced applications that go from capturing observations to recognition of events and ultimately developing comprehensive situational awareness. Healthcare, transportation, global enterprise, and natural resource management industries are leading the rapid emergence of applications in commercial, civic, and scientific operations that involve sensors, web, services and semantics.

The aim of this IJSWIS special issue on semantic technologies for Sensor Networks, Internet of Things and communications is to present and showcase new theory and technical innovation in the ways semantic web technologies, can contribute to the growth, application and deployment of (wireless) sensor and actuator networks, and internet-connected smart devices and other things, including their communication, information management and applications.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

- Ontologies and information modelling for sensor and actuator networks
- Methodologies and languages for modelling and representation, issues of sensing-perception-semantics
- Semantic annotation of high throughput machine or sensor data
- Semantic web services architectures for sensor and actuator networks
- Semantic data integration in large-scale heterogeneous networks
- Semantic middleware for active and passive sensor/actuator networks
- Semantic algorithms for data fusion and situation awareness
- Experience in applications of semantic technologies in sensor and actuator networks
- Semantic data management for sensor networks and smart or not-so-smart devices
- Rule-based sensor and actuator systems
- Reasoning with incomplete or uncertain information in sensor networks
- Semantic feedback and control
- Scalability, interoperability in semantic sensor and actuator networks
- Reliability and adaptability in semantic sensor and actuator networks
- Sensor network topology management using semantic reasoning
- Emergent semantics in Machine-to-Machine communications
- Large-scale semantic enabled networks and systems
- Emergent semantics in sensor networks and sensor data processing
- Exploiting sensor data semantics for geospatial and uncertainty data management
- Specific use cases and applications of semantic technologies in device
- Efforts related to W3C's XG on Semantic Sensor Networks

Key Dates
Submission Deadline: September 15, 2011
Notifications: November 14, 2011
Revised Papers (after Revisions): January 16, 2012
Final Versions: March 26, 2012
2Quarter or 3Quarter of 2012