Sustainable application-aware gateway deployment for massive IoT networks

The growing development of massive Internet of Things (IoT) networks has a fundamental role in modern and sustainable technologies, such as smart cities and smart water systems. With increasing density and complexity of these networks, the need for sustainable and efficient solutions becomes more critical and challenging. This paper presents an application-aware strategy for gateway deployment in IoT networks, leveraging graph theory and graph signal processing techniques to integrate application-based information with network topology. The approach is validated through a focused case study in the context of water management systems. Specifically, our approach improves network coverage and reduces energy consumption by up to 70%. Our results demonstrate significant improvements in data extraction rates and overall network performance, highlighting the adaptability of the proposed graph-based Application Weighted Centrality (AWC) model for large-scale IoT scenarios. This work provides valuable insights into the sustainable deployment of IoT infrastructure, aligning technological advances with the specific needs of applications.