Acoustic Sensor Networks in IoT

Applications

Scope and Objective

One of the important sensing means is through sound wave which is widely used in many
medical, technological and scientific applications. Acoustic Sensor Networks (ASNs) are
especially important for communication in underwater and underground, and in situations
where radio frequency signal is not suitable or unusable. Additionally multimodal sensor
networks incorporating acoustic sensors can augment the sensing scope and enhance the
performance and functionalities of wireless of sensor networks. This is particularly
important given the fact that sensor networks will be an integral part of the emerging
Internet of Things (IoT) environment.

In recent years there has been growing interest in the design and development of acoustic
sensing technology and deployment of acoustic sensor networks for smart environment
monitoring, surveillance, off-shore exploration, disaster prevention and recovery, smart
cities and buildings, and biosecurity applications. However, the current technology faces a
number of challenges that need to be resolved for those applications to be cost effective,
efficient and practically deployable in large scale in the IoT. The slow propagation speed,
low bandwidth and inherent noise in environment require new or re-design of protocols and
algorithms from the application layer to the physical layer. Some of the unsolved issues
include high packet error rate, inaccurate channel modelling, inability of protocols to handle
node mobility and environmental noise, high communication overhead, low reliability and
high latency in data delivery, lack of efficient congestion control mechanism, poor
localization in underwater/underground, and high energy consumption at low frequencies.
The objective of this special issue is to communicate and disseminate recent research and
success stories that demonstrate the potentials and challenges of acoustic sensor networks
to monitor vast ocean, underwater and underground, and thereby to extend the scope of the
IoT beyond the earth surface.

Topics of Interest

This special issue calls for original and high-quality contributions focusing on research that
addresses the above issues as well as innovative applications and services based on acoustic
sensor networks leading to multimodal networks in the emerging IoT. We are seeking
original and unpublished papers. Specific topics include, but are not limited to:

Acoustic channel modelling

 Acoustic data collection and processing

Communication architecture for underwater ASNs

Adhoc network using autonomous underwater vehicle

MAC protocol design for ASNs

Reliable data delivery protocols for ASNs

Delay-aware data delivery protocols for ASNs

Topology control and routing for ASNs

Underwater localization techniques

Congestion control protocols for ASNs

Energy-aware and low complexity protocol design for green communication

Secure communication in ASNs

Simulation models for ASNs

Underwater monitoring, disaster prevention and recovery

Underground acoustic sensors and applications

Acoustic sensor networks for surveillance

Acoustic sensor networks for monitoring and census of species

Acoustic sensor networks for industrial applications

Acoustic sensor networks for biosecurity applications

Multimodal sensor networks using acoustic sensors

Innovative applications of ASNs

Acoustic sensor networks as IoT infrastructure

Intelligent IoT services using acoustic networks (e.g., crowd/traffic flow monitoring
cities, event/source localization in buildings/cities).

Security issues on acoustic sensors and IoT based applications

Testbeds for distributed IoT networks using acoustic sensors.

Future technologies using acoustic sensors and IoT

Submission Guidelines

All submitted papers must be clearly written in excellent English and contain only original
work, which has not been published by or is currently under review for any other journal or
conference. Authors should prepare their manuscript according to the Guide for Authors
available from the online submission page of the Future Generation Computer Systems
at http://ees.elsevier.com/fgcs/. Authors should select SI: ANS-IoT when they reach the
Article Type step in the submission process. The final decisions on the acceptance of the
submissions will be based on their quality, relevance to the special issue and originality of
research.

Important Dates:

Deadline for submission: February 28, 2017

Review notification: May 15, 2017

Submission of the revised paper: June 30, 2017

Final decision: July 31, 2017