Connected Environments: Advancing Monitoring and Decision Support through the Fusion of IoT Sensors and Intelligent Systems

Abstract

Interrelated environments are also becoming the driving force behind how intricate physical, social, and cyber-physical systems are observed and handled. The key in this development is the incorporation of Internet of Things (IoT) sensing infrastructures and smart systems that have data analytics, learning, and decision support capabilities. The review is a well-organized account of the development of recent connected environments with a specific emphasis on the interactions of IoT sensors and intelligent systems to improve monitoring and decision-making. First, the article discusses IoT sensing infrastructures, which comprise architectural foundations, sensor technologies, communication mechanisms, and deployment considerations that facilitate the acquisition of large volumes of data. It then looks at intelligent systems data processing and analytics, with the contribution of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and edge-cloud design to the conversion of raw sensor information into insights. Based on these premises, the review examines frameworks and strategies of fusion that combine heterogeneous sensor data and intelligent analytics across multiple layers of systems. The application domains, such as smart cities, healthcare, industrial automation, and environmental monitoring, are mentioned as examples of the representative areas where the concept of intelligent connected environments has practical implications and issues. The Major technical, organizational, and societal issues—scalability, data heterogeneity, security, privacy, and trust—are discussed critically. Lastly, the article also describes the emerging trends and future research directions, such as distributed intelligence, privacy-preserving learning, and autonomous decision systems. With its holistic view of connected environments, this review is expected to help researchers and practitioners in developing robust, scalable, and trustworthy next-generation monitoring and decision support in connected environments.