Dear Colleagues,

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are at the core of future generations of Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications that constitute our Industrial Revolution 4.0 ambitions. Empowering AI pervasively can transform the way information-led decisions are autonomously made in our day to day life. However, in advancing this technology, significant challenges have surfaced around energy efficiency, security, and dependability.

Modern AI systems have evolved in complexity in terms of the algorithmic advances, hardware capabilities, and interfaces with the real-world through the use of sensors. Algorithmic and hardware capabilities have allowed us to package more powerful computation with high accuracy, while the integration of multi-modal sensing devices has provided opportunities for new applications. Unfortunately, with the complexity of these systems spiraling out of control, the energy costs are also rising significantly, which contradicts the pervasive AI implementation goal.

The consideration of energy efficiency is further intertwined with two major concerns facing users: security and dependability. As many applications closely operate with sensitive information, protection of data is crucial for personal and societal integrity. Likewise, dependability gives the user confidence that the system is designed with the capability of mitigating aberrant situations, such as the presence of faults. However, designing for security and/or dependability is often associated with additional energy costs arising from hardware or software solutions for protection, which further exacerbates system design challenges.

In this Special Issue, we invite papers delineating innovative hardware, software, and systems approaches to addressing the above challenges. We also encourage researchers to provide novel insights covering areas from low-level circuit to cross-layer systems design.

Dr. Rishad Shafik
Dr. Maryam Mehrnezhad
Dr. Ehsan Toreini
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• AI hardware
• sensor design for AI
• energy-efficient hardware design
• new applications and integration methods
• dependable AI systems design
• security of sensing and AI systems
• security techniques, including cryptography and biometrics