A distributed computing paradigm called “edge computing” brings computation and data storage closer to the data sources. It should reduce bandwidth usage and speed up response times. Edge computing, a distributed computing that is topology- and location-sensitive, is an architecture rather than a particular technology.
The notion of edge computing was first oriented in the late 1990s when content distributed networks (CDNs) were developed to provide web and video content from edge servers placed close to users. The first commercial edge computing services, which hosted applications like dealer locators, shopping carts, real-time data aggregators, and ad insertion engines, emerged in the early 2000s due to these networks’ evolution to host apps and application components on edge servers.
One use of edge computing is the Internet of Things (IoT). The idea that IoT and the edge are interchangeable is a prevalent one.
CONCEPT
IoT device proliferation at the network’s edge creates a huge amount of data, and storing and processing all of that data in cloud data centers strains available network bandwidth. Despite advancements in network technology, data centers cannot ensure adequate transfer speeds and reaction times, even though these factors are frequently a crucial need for many applications. Additionally, as devices continuously consume data from the cloud at the edge, businesses must decentralize data storage and service provisioning by utilizing physical closeness to the end user.
Like cloud computing, edge computing aims to shift processing from data centers to the network’s edge by utilizing smart objects, mobile devices, or network gateways to carry out tasks and offer services on behalf of the cloud. It is feasible to provide content caching, service delivery, persistent data storage, and IoT management by relocating services to the edge, which improves response times and transfer rates. Distributing the logic across several network nodes simultaneously creates new problems and difficulties.
PRIVACY AND SECURITY
The dispersed nature of this paradigm brings about a change in the cloud computing security models. Data may move between several distributed nodes connected by the Internet in edge computing, necessitating specialized encryption techniques independent of the cloud. Edge nodes may have resource-constrained equipment, which restricts the options for security measures. A decentralized trust paradigm is also necessary, unlike central and top-down infrastructure. On the other hand, by storing and processing data locally, it is feasible to minimize the transmission of sensitive data to the cloud, thereby increasing privacy. In addition, end users now own the data that has been collected rather than service providers.
SCALABILITY
Several problems with scalability in a dispersed network must be addressed. First, it must consider the heterogeneity of the devices, which have varying performance and energy limits, as well as the highly dynamic environment and the reliability of the connections compared to the more durable architecture of cloud data centers. Also, security requirements could increase communication time between nodes, which might hinder growth.
The most recent scheduling method scales the edge server by allocating the least amount of edge resources to each offloaded task while increasing the effective usage of edge resources.
RELIABILITY
Failover management is essential to maintain service. Users should be able to access a service without interruptions, even if a single node goes down and is inaccessible. Moreover, edge computing systems must offer ways to bounce back from a failure and notify the user of the problem. For error detection and recovery to be practical, each device must preserve the network topology of the entire distributed system. Additional variables that could impact this feature include the connection technologies being used, which could offer varying degrees of reliability, and the correctness of the data generated at the edge, which might need to be more accurate owing to certain environmental conditions.
For instance, a voice assistant or other edge computing device may serve local users in case of a cloud service or internet failure.
SPEED
Edge computing can improve an application’s responsiveness and throughput by bringing analytical processing capabilities near the end users. A well-built edge platform would perform far better than a conventional cloud-based solution. Edge computing is far more practical than cloud computing for applications requiring quick responses. Examples include the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous driving, and anything relating to human or public safety or human perception, such as facial recognition, which normally takes a human between 370 and 620 milliseconds to complete. In applications like augmented reality, where the headset should ideally detect who a person is at the same time as the wearer does, edge computing is more likely to replicate the same perceptive speed as humans.
EFFICIENCY
Complex analytical and Artificial Intelligence tools can operate on the system’s edge since the analytical resources are close to the end users. The system benefits from this positioning at the edge, improving operational effectiveness.
Also, the following illustration shows how efficiency gains are produced when edge computing is used as a transitional stage between client devices and the larger Internet: Video files must be processed computationally intensively on external servers for a client device.
The video files only need to be sent over the local network using servers on a local edge network to carry out those calculations. Transmission across the Internet is avoided, significantly reducing bandwidth usage and boosting effectiveness. Voice recognition is another illustration. The bandwidth needed can be greatly reduced if the recognition is done locally by sending the recognized text to the cloud rather than the audio recordings.
APPLICATIONS
The amount of data that requires to be transported, the resulting traffic, and the distance that data must travel are all reduced by edge application services. It lowers latency and lowers the cost of transmission. Early studies revealed that computation offloading significantly improved response times for real-time applications like facial recognition systems. Additional study revealed that when some jobs are delegated to the edge node, using resource-rich devices termed cloudlets or tiny data centers close to mobile users, which offer services generally found in the cloud, produced gains in execution time. On the other side, offloading every task could cause a slowdown owing to transfer durations between devices and nodes; therefore, an ideal configuration can be determined depending on the workload.
The power grid may be monitored and controlled using an IoT-based power grid system, improving energy management effectiveness.
Another application of the architecture is in cloud gaming, where some game components might run in the cloud. At the same time, the produced video is sent to lightweight clients operating on mobile phones, VR headsets, and other devices. Pixel streaming is another name for this kind of streaming.
