Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are increasingly deployed as networked, IoT-enabled systems rather than isolated platforms, coordinating sensing, communication, and control to operate collaboratively across shallow, deep, and very deep water environments. This shift toward IoT-based AUV networks introduces distinct challenges that differ fundamentally from those of a single, standalone AUV: how vehicles share limited-bandwidth acoustic links, how sensor data is fused and processed across a network of nodes, and how control decisions are distributed or centralized when connectivity is intermittent by nature.

This Research Topic focuses specifically on the design, architecture, and operation of IoT-based AUV networks, and how their core components — communication, computing, and control (the "3Cs") — interconnect to enable coordinated multi-vehicle operation. We welcome contributions that address the specific research questions arising at this intersection, rather than general AUV design or single-vehicle case studies.

Themes of interest include, but are not limited to:
1. Architectures and frameworks for IoT-based AUV networks, including network topology, node coordination, and swarm communication protocols
2. Communication and connectivity mechanisms for networked AUVs — acoustic, RF, and optical links, and how the 3Cs (Communication, Computing, Control) are integrated within a network context
3. Multi-sensor fusion across distributed AUV nodes, and how fused data supports network-level decision-making
4. Edge versus centralized processing trade-offs for networked AUVs operating at different depths and connectivity conditions
5. Data analytics and ML-based recommender systems for network-level navigation and task allocation among multiple AUVs
6. Digital Twin approaches for modelling and testing IoT-based AUV network behaviour prior to deployment

We particularly encourage submissions that explicitly connect two or more of the above themes — for example, how a given sensor fusion approach informs network communication design, or how edge processing constraints shape control architecture — as these cross-cutting questions are the primary focus of this collection.

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

IoT-based Autonomous Underwater Vehicles