Distributed Computing Paradigms for the Internet of Things: Exploring Cloud, Edge, and Fog Solutions

A special issue of Computers (ISSN 2073-431X). This special issue belongs to the section "Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 893

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Computer Science and Cybersecurity, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO 64093, USA
Interests: cloud computing; edge computing; AI; 6G; IoT

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming industries, environments, and everyday life by connecting devices, systems, and people. However, as IoT applications generate massive amounts of data, traditional centralized computing paradigms face challenges in meeting the requirements for real-time processing, scalability, and resource efficiency. Distributed computing paradigms, such as cloud, edge, and fog computing, offer promising solutions by bringing computation closer to data sources, reducing latency, and enhancing operational efficiency.

This Special Issue on "Distributed Computing Paradigms for the Internet of Things: Exploring Cloud, Edge, and Fog Solutions" invites high-quality research articles, reviews, and case studies that investigate the roles, challenges, and innovations related to distributed computing frameworks tailored for IoT applications. We welcome submissions that address theoretical, experimental, and practical aspects of these paradigms and their synergistic integration to support the complex requirements of IoT systems.

This special issue seeks submissions addressing (but not limited to) the following topics:

  • Cloud, Edge, and Fog Architectures for IoT:
    • Design and implementation of cloud, edge, and fog computing systems for IoT;
    • Novel distributed architectures and frameworks for IoT environments;
    • Interoperability across cloud, edge, and fog systems.
  • Resource Management and Optimization:
    • Efficient resource allocation and scheduling for IoT data processing;
    • Adaptive resource management in resource-constrained IoT environments;
    • Performance optimization in cloud, edge and fog computing environments;
    • Load balancing and fault tolerance in distributed IoT systems.
  • Green and Energy-efficient Computing for IoT:
    • Energy-saving techniques in distributed IoT systems;
    • Green computing frameworks for cloud, edge, and fog environments;
    • Low-power IoT device management and optimization;
    • Renewable energy integration in distributed IoT computing frameworks.
  • Data Analytics and Processing for IoT:
    • Real-time data processing and analytics in distributed computing;
    • Machine learning and AI techniques for decentralized IoT networks;
    • Data privacy, security, and trust in cloud–edge–fog environments;
  • Communication and Networking for Distributed Computing Paradigms:
    • Low-latency and high-reliability communication protocols
    • 5G and beyond for IoT networking in cloud-edge-fog architectures
    • Network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) in distributed IoT systems
    • Adaptive communication models for dynamic IoT environments
  • Security, Privacy and Trust in Distributed Computing Paradigms:
    • Security frameworks and architectures for distributed IoT environments;
    • Threat detection and mitigation for IoT, edge, and fog layers;
    • Cybersecurity challenges in multi-tenant cloud–edge–fog networks;
    • Authentication, authorization, and identity management for IoT systems;
    • Secure data transmission, storage, and processing in cloud–edge–fog systems;
    • Privacy-preserving mechanisms and cryptographic solutions in IoT networks.
  • AI Technologies in IoT, Cloud, Edge, and Fog Computing:
    • AI-driven decision-making in distributed IoT systems;
    • Deep learning and reinforcement learning for IoT data processing and optimization;
    • Autonomous IoT systems with AI for real-time decision-making;
    • Integrating AI with cloud–edge–fog computing for intelligent IoT applications.
  • Applications and Case Studies:
    • Practical IoT applications leveraging cloud, edge, and fog solutions;
    • Case studies in smart cities, healthcare, agriculture, and other IoT fields;
    • Evaluation and benchmarking of distributed computing frameworks in real-world scenarios.

Dr. Kevin (Qixiang) Pang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • distributed computing
  • Internet of things (IoT)
  • cloud computing
  • edge computing
  • fog computing
  • IoT architecture
  • data processing
  • IoT applications
  • resource optimization
  • security in IoT
  • energy efficiency
  • green computing
  • real-time analytics
  • hybrid computing models
  • smart devices
  • big data in IoT
  • application performance
  • IoT ecosystem

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 5373 KiB  
Article
Real-Time Overhead Power Line Component Detection on Edge Computing Platforms
by Nico Surantha
Computers 2025, 14(4), 134; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers14040134 - 5 Apr 2025
Viewed by 197
Abstract
Regular inspection of overhead power line (OPL) systems is required to detect damage early and ensure the efficient and uninterrupted transmission of high-voltage electric power. In the past, these checks were conducted utilizing line crawling, inspection robots, and a helicopter. Yet, these traditional [...] Read more.
Regular inspection of overhead power line (OPL) systems is required to detect damage early and ensure the efficient and uninterrupted transmission of high-voltage electric power. In the past, these checks were conducted utilizing line crawling, inspection robots, and a helicopter. Yet, these traditional solutions are slow, costly, and hazardous. Advancements in drones, edge computing platforms, deep learning, and high-resolution cameras may enable real-time OPL inspections using drones. Some research has been conducted on OPL inspection with autonomous drones. However, it is essential to explore how to achieve real-time OPL component detection effectively and efficiently. In this paper, we report our research on OPL component detection on edge computing devices. The original OPL dataset is generated in this study. In this paper, we evaluate the detection performance with several sizes of training datasets. We also implement simple data augmentation to extend the size of datasets. The performance of the YOLOv7 model is also evaluated on several edge computing platforms, such as Raspberry Pi 4B, Jetson Nano, and Jetson Orin Nano. The model quantization method is used to improve the real-time performance of the detection model. The simulation results show that the proposed YOLOv7 model can achieve mean average precision (mAP) over 90%. While the hardware evaluation shows the real-time detection performance can be achieved in several circumstances. Full article
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21 pages, 4465 KiB  
Article
Modified Ant Colony Optimization to Improve Energy Consumption of Cruiser Boundary Tour with Internet of Underwater Things
by Hadeel Mohammed, Mustafa Ibrahim, Ahmed Raoof, Amjad Jaleel and Ayad Q. Al-Dujaili
Computers 2025, 14(2), 74; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers14020074 - 17 Feb 2025
Viewed by 441
Abstract
The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) holds significant promise for developing a smart ocean. In recent years, there has been swift progress in data collection methods using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) within underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs). One of the key challenges in [...] Read more.
The Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) holds significant promise for developing a smart ocean. In recent years, there has been swift progress in data collection methods using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) within underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs). One of the key challenges in the IoUT is improving both the energy consumption (EC) of underwater vehicles and the value of information (VoI) necessary for completing missions while gathering sensing data. In this paper, a hybrid optimization technique is proposed based on boundary tour modified ant colony optimization (BTMACO). The proposed optimization algorithm was developed to solve the challenging problem of determining the optimal path of an AUV visiting all sensor nodes with minimum energy consumption. The optimization algorithm specifies the best order in which to visit all the sensor nodes, while it also works to adjust the AUV’s information-gathering locations according to the permissible data transmission range. Compared with the related works in the literature, the proposed method showed better performance, and it can find the best route through which to collect sensor information with minimum power consumption and a 6.9% better VoI. Full article
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