Introduction

For now (2024-2025), we have experienced rapid growth in the Internet of Things (IoT) domain, as expressed by the number of scientific publications, the market volume, and other indicators suggesting that IoT has come to stay for long. IoT is one of the top priorities in Horizon Europe’s Research and Innovation strategic plan, which, among different Thematic areas, recognizes IoT as one of the most important under the Technology thematic group [European Commission, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Synopsis report – Looking into the R&I future priorities 2025-2027, Publications Office of the European Union, 2023, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/93927]. Knowing the importance of IoT technologies, how can one contribute to the domain by developing, using and designing IoT systems for different applications? This book, as a continuation of the previous one, “Introduction to the IoT,” provides the background needed for the design methods, IoT data analysis, cybersecurity essentials, and other vital topics.

The book composes a comprehensive guide for a variety of education levels. A brief classification of the contents regarding target groups may help in a selective reading of the book and ease in finding the correct chapters for the desired education level. To inform a reader about the proposed target group, icons are assigned to the chapters level 1 (top) and 2nd level chapters. The list of icons and their reflection on the target groups is presented in the table 1.

Table 1: List of icons presenting content classification and corresponding target groups

Icon	Target group
	General Public audience: all those who want to get familiar with basic concepts but do not necessarily step into technical details.
	Bachelor and Engineering level students
	Masters students
	Enterprise, VETS and technical