SPECIAL SECTION ON COOPERATIVE AND INTELLIGENT SENSING
Date of current version January 18, 2018.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2783139
EDITORIAL
A SPECIAL SECTION IN IEEE ACCESS:
COOPERATIVE AND INTELLIGENT SENSING
With the advances of technologies in Micro-electro-
mechanics (MEMS) and wireless communications, it has
become feasible to deploy a large-scale wireless sensor net-
work (WSN) with thousands of tiny and inexpensive sen-
sor nodes scattered over a vast field so that information of
interest can be obtained, processed, transmitted, and fused
automatically via node collaboration and sensing. With the
help of cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoTs), device to
device (D2D) communications, and big data, cooperative and
intelligent sensing will bridge the gap of ubiquitous sensing,
intelligent computing, cooperative communication, and mass
data management technologies to create novel solutions that
improve the urban environment, human life quality, and smart
city systems.
Inspired by the aforementioned attractive features and
potential advantages of cooperative and intelligent sens-
ing techniques, the objective of this Special Section in
IEEE ACCESS is to bring together the state-of-the-art research
contributions that address the key aspects of coopera-
tive schemes and intelligent sensing techniques from both
academia and industry, especially on ubiquitous sensing,
intelligent computing, cooperative communications, and
mass data management technologies. After a rigorous peer
review of each article submission, this Special Section has
11 accepted articles covering a wide spread of topics in
cooperative and intelligent sensing.
Focusing on practical location-based service (LBS) appli-
cations, the article entitled ‘‘A temporal-spatial method for
group detection, locating and tracking’’ by Shengnan Li et al.,
develops a temporal-spatial heuristic method for clustering
and locating the groups, and then leverages a Conditional
Random Field (CRF)-based event detection mechanism to
improve the performance of recognizing contextual behaviors
including forming, dissolving, and following. A prototype
system based on the Android OS using various brands of
mobile phones is implemented and a series of experiments
are carried out to demonstrate that the group localization can
achieve submeter level accuracy.
In order to ensure gas safety, the article entitled ‘‘MLP
neural network based gas classification system on Zynq SoC’’
by Xiaojun Zhai et al., proposes a low latency real-time
gas classification service system, which uses a multi-layer
perceptron (MLP) artificial neural network to detect and
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classify the gas sensory data. An accurate MLP is devel-
oped to work with the dataset obtained from an array of tin
oxide (SnO2) gas sensor, based on convex micro hotplates.
A practical system on chip (SoC) platform is also imple-
mented to achieve very low latency for real-time application
and to guarantee accuracy.
Focusing on the issue of in-node energy conservation
in visual sensor networks (VSNs), the article entitled
‘‘QoI-aware unified framework for node classification and
self-reconfiguration within heterogeneous visual sensor net-
works’’ by Anas Amjad et al., proposes a unified framework
for node classification and dynamic self-reconfiguration,
which incorporates quality-of-information (QoI) awareness
using a peak signal-to-noise ratio-based representative met-
ric to support a diverse range of applications. The robust-
ness of the proposed framework is evaluated under various
scenarios.
Since energy conservation is a key issue in WSNs, the arti-
cle entitled ‘‘Universal and dynamic clustering scheme for
energy constrained cooperative wireless sensor networks’’ by
Muhammad Naeem et al., proposes a dynamic and cooper-
ative clustering and neighborhood formation scheme that is
expected to evenly distribute energy demand from the cluster
heads and optimize the number of sensor nodes involved in
event reporting, which is independent of the nature of the
sensing application and makes it robust against time-varying
behavior of the propagation environment.
In order to provide highly reliable and real-time trans-
missions in industrial WSNs (IWSNs), the article entitled
‘‘Geographic routing in duty-cycled industrial wireless sen-
sor networks with radio irregularity’’ by Mithun Mukherjee
et al., evaluates the impact of radio irregularity on con-
nected K-neighborhood (CKN) based duty-cycled IWSNs,
and investigates the routing performance of two-phase geo-
graphic greedy forwarding (TPGF) in CKN-based duty-
cycled IWSNs with radio irregularity, in terms of the number
of explored routing paths as well as the lengths of the average
and shortest routing paths.
Concentrating on the precision and error analysis of mea-
surement data in WSNs, the article entitled ‘‘Functional curve
fitting algorithm via multi-heterogeneous data curve’’ by
Laixin Shen et al., proposes a fitting process of heterogeneous
parameter curves based on a common reference coordinate
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IEEE ACCESS SPECIAL SECTION EDITORIAL

base, which constructs a multi-scale functional fitting tree by
the R∗-tree and the Lebesgue similarity measure algorithm.
And the curve similarity measurement based on the Lebesgue
multi-dimensional matrix and the functional curve generating
process of multi-heterogeneous data curves are proposed in
the micro-space mildew index fitting example.
In order to explore the relationship between different eye
movement patterns, the article entitled ‘‘Design and imple-
mentation of a reading auxiliary apparatus based on elec-
trooculography’’ by Rui OuYang et al., develops a reading
auxiliary apparatus by measuring and analyzing the elec-
trooculography signals, which uses the saccade detection
algorithm based on the wavelet packet decomposition and
the derivation blink detection algorithm to zoom up the size
of words synchronously according to the position of reader’s
fixation focus.
Focusing on context data detection and data collec-
tion scheduling in a smartphone-based client-server system,
the article entitled ‘‘Context-aware scheduling in personal
data collection from multiple wearable devices’’ by Ao Guo
et al., proposes a context-aware scheduler, which is able
to dynamically adjust a data collection schedule based on
contingent situations in the condition of wearables, system
resource availability, and user behavior. A context-aware
engine is implemented to handle different contextual infor-
mation.
Since the quality of experience (QoE) perceived by users is
a critical performance measure for Web browsing, the article
entitled ‘‘Reordering webpage objects for optimizing quality-
of-experience’’ by Zhiwei Zhao et al., proposes a novel opti-
mization framework that reorders the webpage objects to
minimize the user-end above-the-fold (ATF) time, which first
identifies the webpage objects that consume the ATF time but
have no impact on the page experience, and then change the
positions of these objects to achieve the minimum ATF time.
To improve the security and privacy of crowd-sensing
data, the article entitled ‘‘Cooperative query answer
authentication scheme over anonymous sensing data’’ by
Qingqing Xie et al., proposes a cooperative query answer
authentication scheme, based on the ring signature, i.e., the
Merkle hash tree (MHT) and the non-repudiable service
protocol, which employs the non-repudiation protocol dur-
ing the transmission of query answer and verification
objects to protect trading behavior between the cloud service
providers (CSP) and users.
To explore the performance of fingerprinting-based indoor
localization in commodity 5-GHz WiFi networks, the article
entitled ‘‘BiLoc: Bi-modal deep learning for indoor localiza-
tion with commodity 5GHz WiFi’’ by Xuyu Wang et al., pro-
poses a system termed BiLoc, which uses bi-modality deep
learning for localization in the indoor environment using off-
the-shelf WiFi devices, and uses a deep learning-based algo-
rithm to exploit bi-modal channel state information data for
both the off-line and online stages of indoor fingerprinting.
Finally, we would like to thank all the authors for contribut-
ing their work to this Special Section, and all the reviewers
for their great efforts in reviewing the submitted manuscripts,
without which this Special Section would not have been
published as scheduled. We would also like to thank the
Managing Editor B. M. Onat, and the Editor-in-Chief and
Staff Members for their supportive guidance during the entire
process in the organization of this Special Section.
RONGBO ZHU, Guest Editor
South-Central University for Nationalities
Wuhan 430074, China
e-mail: rbzhu@mail.scuec.edu.cn
MAODE MA, Guest Editor
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore, 639798
e-mail: emdma@ntu.edu.sg
LU LIU, Guest Editor
University of Derby
Derby DE22 1GB, UK
e-mail: l.liu@derby.ac.uk
SHIWEN MAO, Guest Editor
Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849, USA
e-mail: smao@ieee.org

RONGBO ZHU (M’09) received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electronic and information
engineering from the Wuhan University of Technology, China, in 2000 and 2003, respectively,
and the Ph.D. degree in communication and information systems from Shanghai Jiao Tong
University, China, in 2006. From 2011 to 2012, he was a Research Scholar with the Bradley
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
He has published over 70 papers in international journals and conferences in the areas of mobile
computing and wireless communications and networks. His research interests include mobile
computing, protocol design, and performance optimization in wireless networks. He received
the Outstanding B.S. and M.S. Theses Awards from the Wuhan University of Technology
in 2000 and 2003, respectively. He serves as an editorial board member of six international
journals and a lead guest editor for five international journals. He has been actively involved in
around 30 international conferences.

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 IEEE ACCESS SPECIAL SECTION EDITORIAL

MAODE MA (SM’09) received the B.E. degree from Tsinghua University in 1982, the M.E.
degree from Tianjin University in 1991, and the Ph.D. degree in computer science from The
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1999. He is currently an Associate
Professor with the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore. He has extensive research interests including wireless networking and
network security. He has led and/or participated in around 20 research projects funded by gov-
ernment, industry, military, and universities in various countries. He has been a member of the
technical program committees for over 130 international conferences. He has been the general
chair, the technical symposium chair, the tutorial chair, the publication chair, the publicity
chair, and the session chair for over 50 international conferences. He has over 200 international
academic publications, including more than 90 journal papers and 130 conference papers. He is
serving as an IEEE Communication Society Distinguished Lecturer. He is a fellow of the IET.
He is a Senior Member of the IEEE Communication Society and the IEEE Education Society.
He is the Chair of the IEEE Education Society, Singapore Chapter. He is also the Chair of the ACM, Singapore Chapter. He
was an Associate Editor for the IEEE COMMUNICATIONS LETTERS from 2003 to 2011. He serves as a Senior Editor for the
IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Network and Computer
Applications, the International Journal of Security and Communication Networks, and the International Journal of Wireless
Communications and Mobile Computing and the International Journal of Communication Systems, and a Guest Editor for the
IEEE Communications Magazine and the International Journal Computer Communications. He currently serves as an Editor-
in-Chief for the International Journal of Electronic Transport.

LU LIU (M’07) received the M.Sc. degree in data communication systems from Brunel
University and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Surrey. He received funding from
DIF DTC for the Ph.D. degree. He is currently a Professor of distributed computing with
the Department of Computing and Mathematics, University of Derby, U.K. He has over
100 scientific publications in reputable journals, academic books, and international conferences.
His research interests include cloud computing, mobile computing, service-oriented computing,
peer-to-peer computing, virtual computing, and the system of systems engineering. He has
secured many research projects which are supported by U.K. research councils, BIS and
RLTF, and industrial research partners. He is a fellow of the BCS. He currently or formerly
serves/served as a program committee member for over 50 international conferences and
workshops. He was recognized as a Promising Researcher by the University of Derby in 2011.
He received the BCL Faculty Research Award in 2012. He has chaired over 20 international
conference workshops. He serves as an editorial board member of six international journals
and a guest editor for five international journals.

SHIWEN MAO (S’99–M’04–SM’09) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer
engineering from Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY, USA, in 2004. He is currently a
Samuel Ginn Distinguished Professor and the Director of the Wireless Engineering Research
and Education Center, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA. His research interests include
wireless networks and multimedia communications. He is a Distinguished Lecturer of the
IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. He serves as a Steering Committee Member of the IEEE
ICME and AdhocNets, and in various roles in the organizing committees of many conferences.
He received the 2015 IEEE ComSoc TC-CSR Distinguished Service Award, the 2013 IEEE
ComSoc MMTC Outstanding Leadership Award, and the NSF CAREER Award in 2010. He
was a co-recipient of the Best Demo Award from the IEEE SECON 2017, the Best Paper Awards
from the IEEE GLOBECOM 2016, the IEEE GLOBECOM 2015, the IEEE WCNC 2015,
and the IEEE ICC 2013, and the 2004 IEEE Communications Society Leonard G. Abraham
Prize in the Field of Communications Systems. He serves as the TPC Co-Chair of the IEEE
INFOCOM 2018, the Area TPC Chair of the IEEE INFOCOM 2017 and 2016, the Technical Program Vice-Chair of Information
Systems of the IEEE INFOCOM 2015, and the Symposium/Track Co-Chair for many conferences, including the IEEE ICC,
IEEE GLOBECOM, ICCCN, among others. He is the Chair of the IEEE ComSoc Multimedia Communications Technical
Committee. He is on the Steering Committees of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NETWORK SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING and the
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MULTIMEDIA, and is on the Editorial Boards of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MULTIMEDIA, the IEEE
INTERNET OF THINGS JOURNAL, the IEEE MULTIMEDIA, and the ACM GetMobile, among others.

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