Advances in future internet and the industrial internet of things

After the emergence of the Internet and mobile communication networks, the IoT has been considered as the third wave of information technology. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in manufacturing. IIoT incorporates machine learning and big data technology, sensor data, and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications that have existed in industrial areas for years. In the future, people and objects will be connected at any time, any place, with anything and anyone and will utilize any network and services. IIoT is creating a new world in which people and businesses can manage their assets in more informed ways and can make more opportune and better-informed decisions. Many advanced IIoT and 5G technologies have been successfully applied in everyday life, but there are still many practical problems tackled by traditional methods which are generally difficult to experimentally solve in the advanced Industrial Internet of Things. Therefore, in this special issue, we accepted five articles in three different dimensions: communication networks, optimized resource provisioning and data forwarding, privacy and security.