Sensor systems can monitor any type of parameter which is ideal for gathering information from the real world. The next step is to promote the research of distribute intelligence in sensor systems in order to let the sensors be smart and take their own decisions, and propose new data fusion techniques and methods in order to obtain the appropriate data and accurate results. In this paper we summarize a special issue that tackles the distributed intelligence and data fusion for sensor systems from the perspective of coding and channel allocation, data aggregation and data storage, routing, security, mobility and distributed services. This paper introduces the reader to those main hot topics and summarizes the recent advances provided by the papers published in this special issue.