In this paper, an adaptive path construction approach for Mobile Sink (MS) in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for data gathering has been proposed. The path is constructed based on selecting Rendezvous Points (RPs) in the sensing field where the MS stops in order to collect the data. Compared with the most existing RP-based schemes, which rely on fixed RPs to construct the path where these points will stay fixed during the whole network lifetime, we propose an adaptive path construction where the locations of the RPs are dynamically updated using a Fuzzy Inference System (FIS). The proposed FIS, which is named Fuzzy_RPs, has three inputs and one output. The inputs are: the remaining energy of the sensor nodes, the transmission distance between the RPs and the sensor nodes, and the number of surrounding neighbors of each node. The output of FIS is a weight value for each sensor node generated based on the previous three parameters and, thus, each RP is updated to its new location accordingly. Simulation results have shown that the proposed approach extends the network lifetime compared with another existing approach that uses fixed RPs. For example, in terms of using the first dead node as a metric for the network lifetime, when the number of deployed sensor nodes changes from 150 to 300, an improvement that ranges from 48.3% to 83.76% has been achieved compared with another related approach that uses fixed RPs.

Visual crowdsensing applications using built-in cameras in smartphones have recently attracted researchers’ interest. Making the most out of the limited resources to acquire the most helpful images from the public is a challenge in disaster recovery applications. Proposed solutions should adequately address several constraints, including limited bandwidth, limited energy resources, and interrupted communication links with the command center or server. Furthermore, data redundancy is considered one of the main challenges in visual crowdsensing. In distributed visual crowdsensing systems, photo sharing duplicates and expands the amount of data stored on each sensor node. As a result, if any node can communicate with the server, then more photos of the target region would be available to the server. Methods for recognizing and removing redundant data provide a range of benefits, including decreased transmission costs and energy consumption overall. To handle the interrupted communication with the server and the restricted resources of the sensor nodes, this paper proposes a distributed visual crowdsensing system for full-view area coverage. The target area is divided into virtual sub-regions, each of which is represented by a set of boundary points of interest. Then, based on the criteria for full-view area coverage, a specific data structure theme is developed to represent each photo with a set of features. The geometric context parameters of each photo are utilized to extract the features of each photo based on the full-view area coverage criteria. Finally, data redundancy removal algorithms are implemented based on the proposed clustering scheme to eliminate duplicate photos. As a result, each sensor node may filter redundant photographs in dispersed contexts without requiring high computational complexity, resources, or global awareness of all photos from all sensor nodes inside the target area. Compared to the most recent state-of-the-art, the improvement ratio of the added values of the photos provided by the proposed method is more than 38%. In terms of traffic transfer, the proposed method requires fewer data to be transferred between sensor nodes and between sensor nodes and the command center. The overall reduction in traffic exceeds 20% and the overall savings in energy consumption is more than 25%. It was evident that in the proposed system, sending photos between sensor nodes, as well as between sensor nodes and the command center, consumes less energy than existing approaches due to the considerable amount of photo exchange required. Thus, the proposed technique effectively transfers only the most valuable photos needed.

Drone technology is being adopted in delivery services, but the behavioural insights of consumers have not been fully researched. Drone delivery companies should determine the reasons behind people utilizing their services. Consumers’ early perceptions of emerging technologies such as drone delivery services are essential to its successful introduction. This paper develops the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, which involves the addition of the meaning of personal innovativeness as a construct in the study of the determinants of the behavioural intention and actual use of drone delivery services in Jordan. The current literature addresses the subject of logistics and risks, but there is no insight into the preferences and factors of adoption among users. To fill the gap, this study considered the behavioural intention and actual application of drones. Snowball sampling was used to select the participants to be included in the study, from which a sample size of 343 Jordanian citizens was obtained. Data collected through an online survey were assessed for reliability and normality tests. The results of the study have shown that the expectancy of effort, facilitating conditions, habits, and personal innovativeness play significant roles in the behavioural intention, which mediates the actual utilization of drone delivery services. Contrary to expectations, performance expectancy, social influence and price value were not significantly involved in this scenario. This paper highlights the importance of managing perceived danger, improving infrastructure, and developing easy-to-use interfaces to increase the adoption of drone delivery services. The results have implications for both logistics providers and policy makers who would like to expedite the implementation and adoption of drone delivery services in new markets. As a result, drone technology and IT innovations should be adopted by the delivery service market of Jordan to increase efficiency and promote the use of drones. Moreover, they are also expected to modernize the appropriate regulation and secure the system as much as possible to reduce risks, increase trust and make customers adopt the services.