Agriculture stands as a foundational element of life, closely linked to the progress and development of society. Both humans and animals depend on agriculture for a wide range of essential services, such as producing oxygen and food, along with vital raw materials for clothing, medicine, and other necessities. Given agriculture’s vital role in supporting individual well-being and driving global progress, protecting and ensuring the long-term sustainability of agriculture is essential. This is crucial for securing resources and maintaining environmental balance for future generations. In this context, in our review we have examined the various factors that can interfere with the normal physiological and developmental functions of plants and crops. These factors, referred to scientifically as stressors or stress conditions, include a wide range of both biotic and abiotic challenges. In this work we have systematically addressed all the major categories of stress that plants may encounter throughout their lifecycle. Additionally, because plants tend to exhibit recognizable physiological or biochemical responses to stress, we have cataloged the associated stress indicators. These indicators were identified through various assessment techniques, including both destructive and non-destructive approaches. A significant advancement highlighted in our review is the integration of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms with non-destructive methodologies, which has substantially enhanced the accuracy, scalability, and real-time capability of plant stress detection. These ML-enhanced systems leverage high-dimensional data acquired through remote sensing modalities, such as hyperspectral imaging, thermal imaging, and chlorophyll fluorescence. These ultimately help in enabling the early identification of biotic and abiotic stress signatures. Through advanced pattern recognition, feature extraction, and predictive modeling, ML facilitates proactive anomaly detection and stress forecasting, thereby mitigating yield losses and supporting data-driven precision agriculture. This convergence represents a significant step toward intelligent, automated crop monitoring systems. Finally, we conclude the article with a concise discussion of the potential positive roles that certain stress conditions may play in enhancing plant resilience and productivity.

This study aims to realize Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), i.e., SDG 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure and SDG 14: Life below Water, through the improvement of localization estimation accuracy in magneto-inductive underwater wireless sensor networks (MI-UWSNs). The accurate localization of sensor nodes in MI communication can effectively be utilized for industrial IoT applications, e.g., underwater gas and oil pipeline monitoring, and in other important underwater IoT applications, e.g., smart monitoring of sea animals, etc. The most-feasible technology for medium- and short-range communication in IIoT-based UWSNs is MI communication. To improve underwater communication, this paper presents a machine learning-based prediction of localization estimation accuracy of randomly deployed sensor Rx nodes through anchor Tx nodes in the MI-UWSNs. For the training of ML models, extensive simulations have been performed to create two separate datasets for the two configurations of excitation current provided to the Tri-directional (TD) coils, i.e., configuration1-case1_configuration2-case1 (c1c1_c2c1) and configuration1-case2_configuration2-case2 (c1c2_c2c2). Two ML models have been created for each case. The accuracies of both models lie between 95% and 97%. The prediction results have been validated by both the test dataset and verified simulation results. The other important contribution of this paper is the development of a novel assembling technique of a MI-TD coil to achieve an approximate omnidirectional magnetic flux around the communicating coils, which, in turn, will improve the localization accuracy of the Rx nodes in IIoT-based MI-UWSNs.

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has emerged as a key component of modern communication technologies that are driven by rapid advancements in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The increasing adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is transforming various walks of life by enabling a diverse range of functional applications. As automation and connectivity continue to evolve, ISAC plays a crucial role in ensuring seamless communication and real-time data sensing, establishing itself as a fundamental pillar of contemporary technological ecosystems. Notably, ISAC offers several advantages over systems that rely on separate transceivers and receivers, including reduced costs, enhanced spectral efficiency, and improved energy efficiency. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the core radar topologies employed in ISAC communication systems and examines the corresponding localization algorithms that align with these specific radar configurations. Furthermore, the study analyzes key parameters that can directly influence the performance of the localization estimation process within ISAC systems. Once a communication system is deployed, an important consideration is its energy consumption. To address this, the review highlights the relationship between energy usage and the types of antennas employed. Furthermore, we examine the emerging trends and techniques in ISAC systems, focusing on their role in optimizing and enhancing various communication applications such as channel estimation. We conclude this article by outlining limitations and some open challenges for future research directions in the localization of nodes in ISAC systems, providing insights into potential advancements.

The deployment and efficient use of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in underwater and underground environments persists to be a difficult task. In addition, the localization of a sensor Rx node in WSNs is an important aspect for the successful communication with the aforementioned environments. To overcome the limitations of electromagnetic, acoustic, and optical communication in underwater and underground wireless sensor networks (UWSNs), magneto-inductive (MI) communication technology emerged as a promising alternative for usage in UWSNs with a wide range of applications. To make the magneto-inductive underwater wireless sensor networks (MI-UWSNs) more efficient, recently, various research studies focused on the optimization of the physical layer, MAC layer, and routing layer, but none of them has taken into account the effect of directionality. Despite the directionality issue posed by the physical nature of a magnetic field, the unique qualities of MI communication open up a gateway for several applications. The directionality issue of MI sensors is a critical challenge that must be taken into account while developing any WSN protocol or localization algorithm. This paper highlights and discusses the severity and impact of the directionality issue in designing a localization algorithm for magneto-inductive wireless sensor networks (MI-WSNs). A received signal strength indicator (RSSI)-based multilateration localization algorithm is presented in this paper, where a minimum of 2 and maximum of 10 anchor Tx nodes are used to estimate the position of the sensor Rx nodes, which are deployed randomly in a 15 m × 15 m simulation environment. This RSSI-based multilateration technique is the most suitable option that can be used to quantify the impact of directionality on the localization of a sensor Rx node.

Efficient exploration of techniques for underwater communication is still needed to reduce energy consumption, transmission losses and should also provide high speed communication. This paper presents a simple yet high speed communication system based on visible light communication, also recognised as light fidelity (Li-fi), for underwater applications. The concept of Li-fi for use in underwater wireless communication is borrowed from a novel approach presented by Dr Harald Haas of Germany to improve data transfer and information security for in air applications. This paper presents basic design of a Li-Fi underwater communication system and novel concepts that can help to reduce the overall power consumption. Simulation and comparative study is also given in the paper to provide useful insight of this new technology.

Advancements in agricultural technologies have increasingly emphasized technical innovations aimed at improving the predictability and reliability of agricultural outputs. These aspects encompass developments in agricultural machinery, automation technologies, biotechnology, and controlled environment farming systems. This article focuses on Remote Sensing (RS)-based approaches applied to agricultural yield estimation for both crops and plants. RS technologies offer enhanced precision and scalability, making them particularly effective for large-scale agricultural monitoring and analysis. A systematic classification of RS-based methodologies employed for crop yield estimation is presented in this study. These methodologies are categorized into: (i) Sensor-Based approaches, (ii) Platform-Based approaches, (iii) Analytical and Modeling-based methods, and (iv) Machine Learning (ML)-driven models. Based on findings reported across multiple studies, it is observed that Deep Learning (DL)-based architectures consistently achieve superior performance across key evaluation metrics, including accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. This performance advantage stems from their capacity to learn hierarchical representations, capture complex non-linear relationships, scale efficiently with large datasets, and reduce reliance on manual feature engineering. Following this classification, our article presents a comprehensive discussion of the limitations associated with these methodologies. These challenges are organized into four major categories: (i) Environmental, (ii) Algorithmic, (iii) Hardware and Operational, and (iv) Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) related limitations. The adopted classification framework helps readers identify and address the key challenges associated with effective yield estimation in crops and plants. Moreover, the article concludes by outlining several future research directions intended to support and guide both early-career and experienced researchers in this domain.