Optimizing the Future.  From left, Dr. Josu Bilbao, Dr. Kyriakos Vamvoudakis, Dr. Diego Lopez de Ipina, Dr. Pablo Garcia Bringas, Dr. Alfonso Bahillo at the opening of the 9th International Conference on the Internet of Things.

Humans in the Loop  was the theme of the 9th International Conference on the Internet of Things, co-chaired by AE professor  Kyriakos Vamvoudakis October 22-25.

Prof. Kyriakos Vamvoudakis

Convened in Bilbao, Spain, the conference attracted more than 100 information technology experts from academia and industry, all of them focused on the potential economic and social value of instrumenting and connecting devices on the Internet.

Now that the world has 5G capacity with popular devices like phones, tablets, utilities, and even entertainment devices like augmented reality, there exists a new potential for creating smart environments, Vamvoudakis said.

"Issues of privacy, security speed, computational power, and integration dominate  a lot of the discussion, said Vamvoudakis, who heads up AE' Intelligent Cyber-physical Systems Lab. "But when we put humans in the loop, we can really see the the potential role that smart environments can play in modern life."

As an example, Vamvoudakis pointed to the issue of water and power consumption, a growing concern in many developing countries. In a smart city framework, smart devices will be able to monitor and recommend optimal solutions to resource usage. Humans will make the final decision, but their choices will be optimized.

"When you add satellite technology to this 5G capacity, we can begin to see aircraft as an Internet of Things (IoT) flying machine," he said.

Vamvoudakis said he is already looking forward to next year's gathering, in Malmo, Sweden.

"The reason these conferences attract such a passionate following is that they are ambitious," he said. "Every year, we are seeking to use AI to unlock the potential of the IoT."