## 6 Conclusions and Future Work
The existing heterogeneity in both hardware and operating software of these platforms, very common in IoT end devices, cannot be managed using conventional architectures. In this context, some potential solutions involve the use of firmware that can be selected and deployed on the fly, the allocation of purpose-designed firmware functions in isolated memory blocks, or the implementation of protocols to modify specific configuration parameters. However, more ambitious approaches in the current literature suggest using meta-OS reference architectures, which would facilitate creating a real peer-to-peer continuum for IoT applications, thereby addressing the limitations of conventional models [22]. Such architectures may help overcome issues resulting from the limited computing power and energy capacity of IoT and edge devices, which typically restrict their operations to their designated layers [75]. In contrast, swarm intelligence--defined as the ability of a swarm (or multiple agents) to handle complex tasks unachievable by individual entities without a central coordinator--promotes a shift from programming individual devices to fostering dynamic and cooperative groups of nodes. This shift would enable distributed and self-organized collective intelligence, leading to an optimal utilization of the available computing power across diverse cognitive devices at the edge [76]. Conceptualization, T.A. and E.A. ; methodology, T.A. ; software, T.A., E.A., J.S.C., H.K., S.K. and A.L. ; validation, T.A. and J.S.C. ; formal analysis, T.A. ; investigation, all authors; data curation, T.A. ; writing--original draft preparation, all authors; writing--review and editing, T.A. and E.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No 101092968 (project COGNIFOG). Not applicable. The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the corresponding author on request. Author [PERSON] was employed by the company CYSEC SA. Author [PERSON] was employed by the company Netcompany-Intrasoft. Authors [PERSON] and [PERSON] were employed by the company Telematic Medical Applications. Author [PERSON] was employed by the company Kentyou. Author [PERSON] was employed by the company ATOS IT. Author [PERSON] was employed by the company eBOS Technologies Limited. Author [PERSON] was employed by the company Siemens Aktiengesellschaft. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript:  
5G NR 5 th generation new radio AI Artificial Intelligence AMQP advanced message queuing protocol API application programming interface BLE Bluetooth low energy BW bandwidth CCTV closed circuit television CI/CD continuous integration/continuous delivery CNCF Cloud Native Computing Foundation CoAP constrained application protocol CSV comma-separated values DDoS distributed denial of service DDS data distribution service DevOps development and operations EMF Eclipse Modeling Framework EU European Union