Edge Computing Survey

Nov 24th, 2018

Shengming Zhang
under the supervision of
Professor Lakshmish Ramaswamy

Keywords:​​ Edge/Fog computing, applications, IoT, Azure, 5G

Abstract​​:

With the increasing number of devices on the network, centralized Cloud could cause the end
users to suffer from servers’ unavailability and communication latency. Edge computing can
help to solve the weakness of the Cloud by bringing ultra-low latency. Edge computing has
already created a huge market, which will most likely keep growing in the coming years. In this
survey, the architecture of Edge is reviewed. Ongoing applications and research are summarized.
The combinations of Edge computing and 5G are also sketched for future outlook.

Introduction​​:

In December of 2016, Peter Levine, a ​venture capitalist of Andreessen Horowitz, made a

visionary prediction that “all the other things that are out at the Edge that are truly going to
transform Cloud computing and put an end to what we know as the Cloud.” Since then, the term
“Edge computing” has been brought to the public spotlight and the impact of Edge computing is

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growing everyday. Multiple services related to Edge computing have emerged in recent years,
including ​Micro​soft’s Azure IoT, Amazon Web Services, CISCO IOx, Intel FRD, Google’s
Cloud IoT Edge, etc. One Edge computing related startup, Fog​horn, has raised a total of $47.5
million as of October 2017 [1]. The market is ready to embrace Edge computing; billions of
dollars have been invested and technologies have been researched by the leading tech companies
and the top academic institutions.

What is Edge computing? Why can its applications be considered to “end” Cloud, which has not
even reached its peak yet? ​Actually, Edge computing is not unfamiliar in academia because it has
been studied for at least a decade [2]. ​The terms that have been used to describe Edge include
Cloudlet [2], MAUI (Mobile Assistance Using Infrastructure) [3], micro datacenter [4] and Fog
[5]. Edge is an architecture that distributes computation, communication control and storage
closer to the end users along the Cloud-to-things continuum [6]. Sometimes, the term “Edge” can
be interchanged with “Fog”. In another way, Fog computing is defined by the OpenFog
Consortium as “a system-level horizontal architecture that distributes resources and services of
computing, storage, control and networking anywhere along the continuum from Cloud to
Things” [21].

The Cloud, which is referring to the software and services embedded on remote servers i​nstead
of locally on your computer, has become increasingly popular during the past decade. ​Cloud
computing enables clients to store data and perform computations remotely over the internet. The
rise of the Cloud reflects the trend of the centralization of data centers. ​Cloud computing is great
for industry level usage applications led by tech giants such as Google, Apple, Amazon,
Microsoft, etc. The advantage of Cloud computing is that you can access your data and do your
job anywhere with an internet connection. You do not need a high-end computer to perform
heavy workloads because you can rent or buy remote resources on the internet. ​Most Cloud
services can be accessed through a web browser like Firefox or Google Chrome. ​The
disadvantages of Cloud computing are mainly high latency and less-customizable services.
Another major issue is security because all the data are centralized in the same huge data centers.

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If they are hacked or misused, huge problems will occur to the Cloud users. Edge computing, on
the other hand, can attempt to cure those problems to an extent. Edge computing can manage
numerous devices and sensors used by the end users, such as smartphones, tablets, smart
speakers, smart home applications, small cellular base stations, Edge routers and automobiles
[6]. Devices such as automobiles need to make real-time decisions based on the local
optimization of the road capacity, information of the road conditions and communications with
other automobiles. If the automobiles are connected to the immersive Edge network, they could
be the primary data store for the end user, make decisions and provide ultralow or even
deterministic latency applications collectively. The architecture of such an Edge network is
introduced and will be further explained in Section One. Current applications of Edge network
industry, research and civic usage are covered in Section Two. The next generation 5G will be
10-20 times faster than the 4G LTE and can truly enable the idea of Edge/Fog computing and
Internet of Things (IoT) on the mobile network. The 5G network will enable devices to achieve
ultra-low latency without using the internet. This will require programmers to rewrite almost
everything. The big mobile service providers, such as AT&T, Verizon, Ericsson, China Mobile,
Cisco, etc are all launching their Edge computing plans, which will mainly focus on the
combinations of Edge computing and 5G. That will be presented in Section Three. The summary
of Edge computing and the future of Edge computing are discussed in the last section of this
survey.

Section One:​​ Edge computing architecture

The ideas of Edge/Fog architectures are developing fast, and a lot of architecture ideas are
summarized in [5]. In the early days, to decrease the delay between the end-user devices and the
Cloud service, an extra layer between the two was implemented. It was called Fog or mini
datacenter, as shown in Figure 1 [7], which is the preliminary Edge network architectures.

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 Figure 1 The early day of Fog layer [7]

With the upgrading of the end users’ devices and the improvement of the multiple platform
applications, the middle micro data centers layer embedded with APIs and software packages for
these devices started to merge with the devices and sensors layer, and they became one [8], as
shown in the Figure 2.

Figure 2 Current Edge/Fog computing layer [8]

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Therefore, the term Edge computing and Fog computing can really be used interchangeably. To
clearly understand the architectures of the Fog layers, we can compare the sketches of the
different network models. The first is the centralized model for telecom and Cloud computing.
The second decentralized model represents the internet. The last distributed mesh model is for
Edge computing [9]. The current trend is to use the mesh model for building Edge computing
networks.

Figure 3 Centralized, decentralized and distributed network models sketches [9]

Keeping the physical models in the back of our mind, Edge/Fog is also an architecture carrying
out the functions that include distributing computation, communication control and storage
closer to the end users along the Cloud-to-things continuum [5]. Similar to TCP/IP for the
internet applications, Edge computing also requires network decomposition protocols.
Networking decomposition is not only about allocating the resources, but also allocating the
functions [5]. There are two types of decompositions in the Edge network: the horizontal and the
vertical. The Edge to Cloud connections require vertical decomposition, while the Edge devices
to devices connections require horizontal decompositions. These decompositions need to

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consider satisfying functions as real time processing, rapid innovation, user-centric, Edge
resource pooling and multiple OS interface languages. The battery limits of Edge devices, the
failure recovery, compilation time and running time trade-off are needed to be considered as well
[5]. The architecture of Fog computing should satisfy the functions that the network carries out.
To understand the functions that an Edge network can be decomposed into, we need to
understand the taxonomy of Edge computing first. The main taxonomy is listed in Figure 4. This
taxonomy provides a classification of the existing works in Edge/Fog computing [10], which
consists of six main categories.

Figure 4 Taxonomy of Fog Computing [10]

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First, the Fog nodes configuration provides information of heterogeneous architectures and
configurations for Edge computing. Secondly, nodal collaboration carries out the techniques for
managing nodal collaboration among different Fog nodes. Thirdly, resource/service provisioning
metric optimizes factors that contribute to providing resources and services efficiently under
different constraints. Fourthly, service level objectives have been attained by deploying Edge
computing as an intermediate layer between Cloud data centers and end devices/sensors. Fifthly,
applicable network system and security concerns are also very important to Edge computing.
Sixthly, proposed system and corresponding solutions in the existing works generally cover
different categories of the taxonomy. The details are summarized in [10].

The various elements in the distributed Fog infrastructure are shown in Figure 5, which includes
the data center Cloud, core of the network, Edge of the network and end points [11]. The
corresponding software architectures are shown in Figure 6 [11].

Figure 5 Fog/Edge distributed infrastructure for IoT and Distributed IoT applications [11]

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 Figure 6 Software components in Fog architecture

The Fog architecture enables distributed deployment of applications requiring computing,

storage and networking resources spanning across these different network elements. For more
details, see [11].

Another big category of architecture is the ​mobile Edge computing (MEC). There are several
kinds of MEC, including small cell Cloud (SCC), mobile micro Cloud (MMC), fast moving
personal Cloud, follow me Cloud (FMC), and ​CONvergence of Cloud and cEllulaR sysTems
(CONCERT) [12]. Currently, FMC has been most extensively discussed; its typical architecture
is shown in Figure 7, and details are summarized in [13].

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 Figure 7 The network architecture enabling FMC concept (centralized solution). Where UE is
shot for user equipment, GW is short for gateway [13].

Section Two: Current Applications of Edge Computing

With the above architecture in mind, we now can take a look at the current applications for Edge.
In April 2018, Microsoft announced $5 billion in new IoT investment over the next four years.
A.T. Kearney said that IoT will bring a nearly $2 trillion productivity increase to the global
economy​ and a $177 billion reduction in business costs by the end of the decade [14].

Edge computing shows great advantages on ​video analytics at the edge of the Internet​, which
reduced the communication cost dramatically between the Edge and the Could [15]. Edge
computing can help to monitor [16] and manage live road traffic based on IoTs [17].

Edge computing can also help with green renewable power generation, integrate green power
resources into the energy distribution system, control power usage and balance energy load [18].
General Electric, Siemens Wind Power, etc have used Edge computing to maximize their power
generation from their wind farms. A wind farm is a great renewable power source and usually

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located in remote areas even along the coastline and on islands where the internet is either
unavailable or of poor quality. To maximize the efficiency of wind farms, it is very important to
ensure each wind turbine operates optimally to capture maximum wind currents [19], as shown
in Figure 8 [20]. Each wind turbine with sensors and computing chips can work as an Edge
element if we connect them using the Edge models mentioned in Section One. Edge can be used
to collect, analyze, and adjust blades of a flock of wind turbines as wind direction shifts to
maximize the wind farm efficiency without Cloud [11, 21]. After the power is generated, a smart
grid that allows both electrical flow and information flow bi-directionally between customers and
energy service providers is applied as the a modern version of conventional electricity networks
emerged as a result of the growing demand for electricity [22].

Figure 8 Wind Farm Remote Monitoring System and Control Room [20]

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Edge can also enable a flock of drones to cover live events, such as football or soccer games.
Currently, in an intense soccer game, thirty-four cameras are needed. The maintenance,
operation, editing, streaming and power consumption are considerable. To reduce these costs, a
network of eight drones with 2K cameras and four servers can be deployed to cover a live event,
and Edge computing can be implemented for managing the network of drone cameras in
real-time, as shown in Figure 9 [23]. The tasks of the drones network are: 1) to coordinate with a
centralized controller that incurs round-trip latencies of several hundreds of milliseconds over a
wireless channel; 2) to optimize the streamed video bitrate; 3) to decide the balance between the
largest coverage and most important scenes, etc. In the network, one of the drones will be
selected as the master. The master acts as the centralized controller and uses a predictive
approach to instruct all drones on their routes. The controller also maximizes video bitrate by
associating each drone to an optimally matched server and dynamically re-assigns drones as
relay nodes to boost the throughput in low-throughput scenarios. Experimental results
demonstrate a 2x gain over conventional static camera systems [23].

Figure 9 Server and Drones Locations [23]

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In the meantime, you can gain hands on Edge computing experience using Microsoft Azure IoT
hub [24] to create your own applications. Microsoft Azure IoT Hub is an open and flexible
Cloud platform as a service that supports open-source SDKs and multiple protocols [25].
Furthermore, IoT hub is free; it can provide secure connection, monitoring and management of
billions of devices to develop IoT applications.

Section Three: 5G and mobile Edge

The 5G network enables handling of a thousand times more traffic than 4G LTE and will be 10 -
20 times faster. It will be officially launched in Asia and north America in 2020. Currently, the
5G speed can reach 5 Gbps. The speed is expected to reach 10 Gbps in 2020, and 20 Gbps in
2022 [26]. The key capabilities are shown in Figure 10 [27].

Figure 10 Enhancement of the 5G key capabilities [27]

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The ultra fast speed of the revolutionary 5G mobile network will be the driving force for Edge
computing and IoT on mobile networks, especially for the nb-IoT [28]. There are a multitude of
applications that can be realized using 5G, which will transform businesses in industrial
applications and end users’ experiences. Applications built on underlying technologies such as
augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), telepresence and artificial intelligence (AI) will
benefit from massive data pipes and ultra-low latency. Fixed-wireless services delivering
fiber-like speeds will enable UHD video streaming and entirely new business models for cable
companies and streaming subscription providers. Cars and drones will communicate with each
other and coordinate with things around them through the low-latency network. Industrial
automation and robotics will finally be a reality over mobile Edge network. Finally, 5G will get
us closer to realizing the true IoT world of millions of sensor devices connected to the Edge
network. 5G is not just a hardware evolution but also a software game changer, which will serve
more hardwares, have higher spectral efficiency and lower latency. However, the specialized and
heterogeneous nature of the Edge devices will lead to expensive 5G infrastructure cost, which
will result in slow development of the 5G base stations. A software that can connect the base
station with the Wi-Fi network is desired [29]. A Wi-Fi Access Point (AP) on the base station is
designed to make delivery decisions to vehicular clients. The APs serve at millisecond-level
granularities and exploits path diversity in roadside networks. To accomplish this, a new buffer
management algorithm is introduced to allow participating APs to manage each others’ queues,
rapidly quenching each others’ transmissions and flushing each others’ queues. An eight-AP
network has been implemented alongside a road, and evaluated the network performance with
mobile clients moving at around 35 mph. Details can be found in [29].

Another example of 5G Edge computing is ParkMaster. ParkMaster is a system that leverages

the ubiquitous smartphone to help drivers find parking spaces in the urban environment. It
estimates parking space availability using videos gleaned from drivers’ dash-mounted
smartphones on the Edge network, uploading analytics about the street to the servers in real time
as participants drive. It enables the system to estimate each parked car’s approximate location.

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On-the-road experiments have been tested in different environments including Los Angeles,
Paris and a small Italian village. Details are outlined in [30].

Augmented reality (AR) augments a real-world environment by computer-generated sensory

information such as text, sound, and graphics. According to Digi-Capital, mobile AR could
become the primary driver of a $108 billion VR/AR market by 2021 [31]. A use case where there
is strong interplay between Edge computing and AR (or, broadly speaking, computer vision) is
augmented windshields for autonomous vehicles. The driver, at this point passive, might shift
his/her attention completely on the windscreen instead of checking the console to search for
speed information. Additionally, the windshield will also provide traffic condition information, a
personal agenda, a news feed, gaming interfaces, social networks, and so forth. In order to craft
and manage such a visually rich experience, an Edge board mounted on the car is considered
necessary [32][33].

Renewal machine learning framework is developed to ensure the security of AR against

potentially harmful or distracting visual output produced by malicious or bug-ridden
applications. Deep reinforcement learning can be used to generate adaptive policies to secure
visual output in AR systems. This approach utilizes a local Fog computing node, which runs
training simulations to automatically learn an appropriate policy for filtering potentially
malicious or distracting content produced by an application [29]. More importantly, reference
[34] developed a dispersed machine learning layout and shed light into the machine learning in
Edge.

Conclusions and Discussions:

There are still tons of topics about Edge computing, such as data security and integrity in Edge
network, availability, resource management, Service Level Agreements(SLAs) [35], machine
learning, connections between Edge and Clouds, economics and specialized hardware at Edge,
serverless framework at Edge, etc.

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Although some applications of Edge computing are mentioned in this survey, there are still a lot
of ongoing applications and research such as ​making the Edge autonomous even if disconnected
from the Cloud, disaster recovery, Edge datastores [36], etc.

In summary, ​the relevance of Fog/Edge is rooted in both the inadequacy of the traditional Cloud
and the ​emergence of new opportunities for the Internet of Things, 5G, embedded datastores, and
artificial intelligence. In next decade, we shall witness the fundamental changes.

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