A Review of Academic and Patent Progress on Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies for Enhanced Environmental Solutions

Environmental pollution is a pressing global issue, and the Internet of Things (IoT) offers transformative potential for its management through its application in advanced real-time monitoring and analytics. However, the heterogeneous and fragmented nature of IoT technologies poses challenges to sea...

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Main Authors: Usharani Hareesh Govindarajan, Chuyi Zhang, Rakesh D. Raut, Gagan Narang, Alessandro Galdelli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-02-01
Series:Technologies
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/13/2/64
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author Usharani Hareesh Govindarajan
Chuyi Zhang
Rakesh D. Raut
Gagan Narang
Alessandro Galdelli
author_facet Usharani Hareesh Govindarajan
Chuyi Zhang
Rakesh D. Raut
Gagan Narang
Alessandro Galdelli
author_sort Usharani Hareesh Govindarajan
collection DOAJ
description Environmental pollution is a pressing global issue, and the Internet of Things (IoT) offers transformative potential for its management through its application in advanced real-time monitoring and analytics. However, the heterogeneous and fragmented nature of IoT technologies poses challenges to seamless integration, limiting the efficacy of these solutions in addressing environmental impacts. This paper addresses these challenges by reviewing recent developments in IoT technologies, encompassing sensor networks, computing frameworks, and application layers for enhanced pollution management. A comprehensive analysis of 74,604 academic publications and 35,000 patent documents spanning from 2008 to 2024 is conducted using a textual analysis that combines quantitative bibliometric methods along with a qualitative analysis based on both scholarly research and patent innovations. This approach allows us to identify key challenges in IoT implementation for environmental monitoring—including integration, interoperability, and scalability issues—and to highlight corresponding architectural solutions. Our findings reveal emerging technology trends that aim to overcome a few of these challenges, and we present a scalable IoT architecture as key discussions that enhances system interoperability and efficiency for pollution monitoring. This framework provides targeted solutions for specific tasks in pollution monitoring while guiding decision-makers to adopt solutions effectively.
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spelling doaj-art-866a79c6abf54136a1e5eed6f0bfc86c2025-08-20T03:12:07ZengMDPI AGTechnologies2227-70802025-02-011326410.3390/technologies13020064A Review of Academic and Patent Progress on Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies for Enhanced Environmental SolutionsUsharani Hareesh Govindarajan0Chuyi Zhang1Rakesh D. Raut2Gagan Narang3Alessandro Galdelli4Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaBusiness School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, ChinaDepartment of Operations and Supply Chain Management, Indian Institute of Management-Mumbai, Mumbai 400087, IndiaDepartment of Information Engineering, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, ItalyDepartment of Information Engineering, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, ItalyEnvironmental pollution is a pressing global issue, and the Internet of Things (IoT) offers transformative potential for its management through its application in advanced real-time monitoring and analytics. However, the heterogeneous and fragmented nature of IoT technologies poses challenges to seamless integration, limiting the efficacy of these solutions in addressing environmental impacts. This paper addresses these challenges by reviewing recent developments in IoT technologies, encompassing sensor networks, computing frameworks, and application layers for enhanced pollution management. A comprehensive analysis of 74,604 academic publications and 35,000 patent documents spanning from 2008 to 2024 is conducted using a textual analysis that combines quantitative bibliometric methods along with a qualitative analysis based on both scholarly research and patent innovations. This approach allows us to identify key challenges in IoT implementation for environmental monitoring—including integration, interoperability, and scalability issues—and to highlight corresponding architectural solutions. Our findings reveal emerging technology trends that aim to overcome a few of these challenges, and we present a scalable IoT architecture as key discussions that enhances system interoperability and efficiency for pollution monitoring. This framework provides targeted solutions for specific tasks in pollution monitoring while guiding decision-makers to adopt solutions effectively.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/13/2/64Internet of Things (IoT)pollution managementtechnology fragmentationcarbon neutralitypatent analysisenvironmental analytics
spellingShingle Usharani Hareesh Govindarajan
Chuyi Zhang
Rakesh D. Raut
Gagan Narang
Alessandro Galdelli
A Review of Academic and Patent Progress on Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies for Enhanced Environmental Solutions
Technologies
Internet of Things (IoT)
pollution management
technology fragmentation
carbon neutrality
patent analysis
environmental analytics
title A Review of Academic and Patent Progress on Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies for Enhanced Environmental Solutions
title_full A Review of Academic and Patent Progress on Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies for Enhanced Environmental Solutions
title_fullStr A Review of Academic and Patent Progress on Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies for Enhanced Environmental Solutions
title_full_unstemmed A Review of Academic and Patent Progress on Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies for Enhanced Environmental Solutions
title_short A Review of Academic and Patent Progress on Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies for Enhanced Environmental Solutions
title_sort review of academic and patent progress on internet of things iot technologies for enhanced environmental solutions
topic Internet of Things (IoT)
pollution management
technology fragmentation
carbon neutrality
patent analysis
environmental analytics
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/13/2/64
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