IEEE 802.11 and Wireless Sensors Network

Dear Colleagues,

It’s been almost 25 years since the release of the first IEEE 802.11 standard. The convenience of avoiding cable-based deployments and enabling user mobility using a license-free frequency band rapidly made IEEE 802.11 a widespread technology, even becoming a de facto standard for wireless LAN. In fact, that was the initial goal of the IEEE P802.11 Working Group: the development of a communications standard intended to provide wireless access to a LAN; that is to say, enabling wireless connectivity to portable computers such as laptops, netbooks, etc. However, the economy of scale that followed the early and rapid adoption of that technology, along with a very dynamic standardization and certification ecosystem through the Wi-Fi Alliance, spread its presence to a wide variety of scenarios and use cases, making Wi-Fi more than just a WLAN technology. Nowadays, billions of devices are connected via a Wi-Fi certified interface in a panoply of applications, many of which were not in scope when designing the technology.

Some of the scenarios not initially foreseen for the Wi-Fi technology include the wireless sensor networks (WSN) or, more generally, the Internet of Things (IoT); a market with phenomenal growth in perspective. Those applications impose a set of requirements that differ largely from the familiar scenario of a domestic or enterprise-level LAN: support to a large number of connected devices, long coverage range, and low energy consumption, among others. However, the IEEE P802.11WG and the Wi-Fi Alliance have always been vigilant and ready to embrace the challenge of pushing forward the technology according to the evolving needs for wireless connectivity.

IEEE 802.11s, IEEE 802.11ah (Wi-Fi HaLow), IEEE 802.11ba, and several features included in the IEEE 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) and under discussion for the future IEEE 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7), focus on improving the performance of Wi-Fi in a sensor network, or in an IoT scenario. Task Group TGbf even studies the use of IEEE 802.11 hardware as a motion or presence sensor. However, there are still challenges for the IEEE 802.11 technology in such scenarios.

For those reasons, this special issue is aimed at collecting high-quality research papers and review articles focusing on the latest trends in the use of IEEE 802.11 in wireless sensor network and IoT scenarios. We seek original papers showing recent advances in low-power, long-range Wi-Fi applications, papers identifying and tackling the new challenges of IEEE 802.11-based wireless sensor networks, the proposal of new mechanisms to improve Wi-Fi-enabled IoT, etc. that have not been published before and are not currently under review by other journals or conferences.

Dr. Eduard Garcia-Villega
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.