Edge Computing Platforms Research Articles

Learning efficiency maximization in UAV-and-RIS-aided mobile edge learning system

With the ever-increasing number of Internet of Things devices (IoTDs) and the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, mobile edge learning (MEL) has emerged as a new communication network paradigm that can deploy machine learning on mobile edge computing (MEC) platforms with abundant computational resources. Then how to fully exploit the potential of MEL and enhance its performance is an important issue. To address this issue, the paper proposes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-and-reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided MEL system. In the system, the UAV equipped with a MEL server can fly close to the IoTDs to collect their data for training a deep learning model. And the RIS mounted on the building can improve the wireless channel environment between the UAV and IoTDs to assist the UAV in collecting data. In order to maximize the MEL learning performance while minimizing the system energy consumption, this paper also proposes a new optimization metric called learning efficiency. Then, a learning efficiency maximization problem based on the proposed system is formulated by jointly optimizing the minority class sample size, the transmit resource of the IoTDs, the phase shift of the RIS, and the trajectory of the UAV. Considering the intractability of the problem, we solve it using the alternating optimization (AO) algorithms based on the two types of UAV trajectory design, i.e., a time-division-multiple-access (TDMA) design with higher performance and a Flight-Hover design with lower complexity. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed optimization metric and algorithms are effective and perform excellently compared to other baselines.

Enhancing Autonomous Driving Robot Systems with Edge Computing and LDM Platforms

The efficient operation and interaction of autonomous robots play crucial roles in various fields, e.g., security, environmental monitoring, and disaster response. For these purposes, processing large volumes of sensor data and sharing data between robots is essential; however, processing such large data in an on-device environment for robots results in substantial computational resource demands, causing high battery consumption and heat issues. Thus, this study addresses challenges related to processing large volumes of sensor data and the lack of dynamic object information sharing among autonomous robots and other mobility systems. To this end, we propose an Edge-Driving Robotics Platform (EDRP) and a Local Dynamic Map Platform (LDMP) based on 5G mobile edge computing and Kubernetes. The proposed EDRP implements the functions of autonomous robots based on a microservice architecture and offloads these functions to an edge cloud computing environment. The LDMP collects and shares information about dynamic objects based on the ETSI TR 103 324 standard, ensuring cooperation among robots in a cluster and compatibility with various Cooperative-Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS) components. The feasibility of operating a large-scale autonomous robot offloading system was verified in experimental scenarios involving robot autonomy, dynamic object collection, and distribution by integrating real-world robots with an edge computing–based offloading platform. Experimental results confirmed the potential of dynamic object collection and dynamic object information sharing with C-ITS environment components based on LDMP.

S-LDM: Server local dynamic map for 5G-based centralized enhanced collective perception

The automotive field is undergoing significant technological advances, which includes making the next generation of autonomous vehicles smarter, greener and safer through vehicular networks, which are often referred to as Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications. Together with V2X, centralized maneuver management services for autonomous vehicles are increasingly gaining importance, as, thanks to their complete view over the road, they can optimally manage even the most complex maneuvers targeting L4 driving and beyond. These services face the challenge of strictly requiring a high reliability and low latency, which are tackled with the deployment at orchestrated Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) platforms. In order to properly manage safety-critical maneuvers, these services need to receive a large amount of data from vehicles, even though the useful subset of data is often related to a specific context on the road (e.g., to specific road users or geographical areas). Decoding and post-processing a large amount of raw messages, which are then for the most part filtered, increases the load on safety-critical services, which should instead focus on meeting the deadlines for the actual control and management operations. On this basis, we present an innovative open-source, 5G & MEC enabled service, called Server Local Dynamic Map (S-LDM). The S-LDM is a service that collects information about vehicles and other non-connected road objects using standard-compliant messages. Its primary purpose is to create a centralized dynamic map of the road that can be shared efficiently with other services managing L4 automation, when needed. By doing so, the S-LDM enables these services to widely and precisely understand the current situation of sections of the road, offloading them from the need of quickly processing a large number of messages. After a detailed description of the service architecture, we validate it through extensive laboratory and pilot trials, involving the MEC platforms and production 5G networks of three major European network operations and two Stellantis vehicles equipped with V2X On-Board Units (OBUs). We show how it can efficiently handle high update rates and process each messages in less than few tenths of microseconds. We also provide a complete scalability analysis with details on deployment options, providing insights on where new instances should be created in practical 5G-based V2X scenarios.

Emerging Industrial Internet of Things Open-Source Platforms and Applications in Diverse Sectors

Revolutionary advances in technology have been seen in many industries, with the IIoT being a prime example. The IIoT creates a network of interconnected devices, allowing smooth communication and interoperability in industrial settings. This not only boosts efficiency, productivity, and safety but also provides transformative solutions for various sectors. This research looks into open-source IIoT and edge platforms that are applicable to a range of applications with the aim of finding and developing high-potential solutions. It highlights the effect of open-source IIoT and edge computing platforms on traditional IIoT applications, showing how these platforms make development and deployment processes easier. Popular open-source IIoT platforms include DeviceHive and Thingsboard, while EdgeX Foundry is a key platform for edge computing, allowing IIoT applications to be deployed closer to data sources, thus reducing latency and conserving bandwidth. This study seeks to identify potential future domains for the implementation of IIoT solutions using these open-source platforms. Additionally, each sector is evaluated based on various criteria, such as development requirement analyses, market demand projections, the examination of leading companies and emerging startups in each domain, and the application of the International Patent Classification (IPC) scheme for in-depth sector analysis.

Ellipsoidal Trajectory Optimization for Minimizing Latency and Data Transmission Energy in UAV-Assisted MEC Using Deep Reinforcement Learning

Due to their flexible deployment and movement capability, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being utilized as flying mobile edge computing (MEC) platforms, offering real-time computational resources and low-latency data processing for a wide range of applications. This article aims to explore a UAV-assisted MEC system where multiple UAVs provide MEC services to mobile devices (MDs) using an ellipsoidal trajectory. Depending on the position, size, and orientation of the ellipsoidal trajectories, the coverage area of the UAV, the energy consumption, and the task transmission latency of MDs change. This has rarely been investigated in the existing works. Furthermore, unlike other studies, we consider that each MD has varying task offloading rates, which, together with varying user densities, makes the problem more challenging. Therefore, we formulate an optimization problem that finds the center position, major radius, minor radius, and rotation angle of the ellipsoidal trajectory of UAV-assisted MEC servers, to minimize the total transmission latency and energy consumption of mobile devices while taking into account the required data transmission rate, task transmission time, and energy consumption constraints. Then, we transform this optimization problem into a Markov decision process and propose a deep Q-learning-based ellipsoidal trajectory optimization (DETO) algorithm, to resolve it. The results from our simulations demonstrate that DETO efficiently computes the optimal position and trajectory for each UAV, and can achieve better performance compared to other baselines, leading to the reduced data transmission latency and energy consumption of mobile devices across a range of simulation scenarios.

Time-Sensitive and Resource-Aware Concurrent Workflow Scheduling for Edge Computing Platforms Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

The workflow scheduling on edge computing platforms in industrial scenarios aims to efficiently utilize the computing resources of edge platforms to meet user service requirements. Compared to ordinary task scheduling, tasks in workflow scheduling come with predecessor and successor constraints. The solutions to scheduling problems typically include traditional heuristic methods and modern deep reinforcement learning approaches. For heuristic methods, an increase in constraints complicates the design of scheduling rules, making it challenging to devise suitable algorithms. Additionally, whenever the environment undergoes updates, it necessitates the redesign of the scheduling algorithms. For existing deep reinforcement learning-based scheduling methods, there are often challenges related to training difficulty and computation time. The addition of constraints makes it challenging for neural networks to make decisions while satisfying those constraints. Furthermore, previous methods mainly relied on RNN and its variants to construct neural network models, lacking a computation time advantage. In response to these issues, this paper introduces a novel workflow scheduling method based on reinforcement learning, which utilizes neural networks for direct decision-making. On the one hand, this approach leverages deep reinforcement learning, eliminating the need for researchers to define complex scheduling rules. On the other hand, it separates the parsing of the workflow and constraint handling from the scheduling decisions, allowing the neural network model to focus on learning how to schedule without the necessity of learning how to handle workflow definitions and constraints among sub-tasks. The method optimizes resource utilization and response time, as its objectives and the network are trained using the PPO algorithm combined with Self-Critic, and the parameter transfer strategy is utilized to find the balance point for multi-objective optimization. Leveraging the advantages of reinforcement learning, the network can be trained and tested using randomly generated datasets. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can generate different scheduling outcomes to meet various scenario requirements without modifying the neural network. Furthermore, when compared to other deep reinforcement learning methods, the proposed approach demonstrates certain advantages in scheduling performance and computation time.

A Fairness-Aware Attacker-Defender Model for Optimal Edge Network Operation and Protection

While various aspects of edge computing (EC) have been studied extensively, the current literature has overlooked the robust edge network operations and planning problem. To this end, this letter proposes a novel fairness-aware attacker-defender model for optimal edge network operation and hardening against possible attacks and disruptions. The proposed model helps EC platforms identify the set of most critical nodes to be protected to mitigate the impact of failures on system performance. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed solution not only ensures good service quality but also maintains fairness among different areas during disruptions.

EASE: Energy-Aware Job Scheduling for Vehicular Edge Networks With Renewable Energy Resources

The energy sustainability of multi-access edge computing (MEC) platforms is here addressed by developing Energy-Aware job Scheduling at the Edge (EASE), a computing resource scheduler for edge servers co-powered by renewable energy resources and the power grid. The scenario under study involves the optimal allocation and migration of time-sensitive computing tasks in a resource-constrained internet of vehicles (IoV) context. This is achieved by tackling, as the main objective, the minimization of the carbon footprint of the edge network, whilst delivering adequate quality of service (QoS) to the end users (e.g., meeting task execution deadlines). EASE integrates i) a centralized optimization step, solved through model predictive control (MPC), to manage the renewable energy that is locally collected at the edge servers and their local computing resources, estimating their future availability, and ii) a distributed consensus step, solved via dual ascent in closed form, to reach agreement on service migrations. EASE is compared with four existing migration strategies. Quantitative results demonstrate its greater energy efficiency, which often gets close to complete carbon neutrality, while also improving the QoS.

Design of a 5G Multimedia Broadcast Application Function Supporting Adaptive Error Recovery

The demand for mobile multimedia streaming services has been steadily growing in recent years. Mobile multimedia broadcasting addresses the shortage of radio resources but introduces a network error recovery problem. Retransmitting multimedia segments that are not correctly broadcast can cause service disruptions and increased service latency, affecting the quality of experience perceived by end users. With the advent of networking paradigms based on virtualization technologies, mobile networks have been enabled with more flexibility and agility to deploy innovative services that improve the utilization of available network resources. This paper discusses how mobile multimedia broadcast services can be designed to prevent service degradation by using the computing capabilities provided by multiaccess edge computing (MEC) platforms in the context of a 5G network architecture. An experimental platform has been developed to evaluate the feasibility of a MEC application to provide adaptive error recovery for multimedia broadcast services. The results of the experiments carried out show that the proposal provides a flexible mechanism that can be deployed at the network edge to lower the impact of transmission errors on latency and service disruptions.

A high-performance convolution block oriented accelerator for MBConv-Based CNNs

Convolution Neural Network (CNN) models have shown their dominance in computer vision tasks. Recently, a special convolution block, named MBConv block or inverted residual block, is proposed to construct CNNs to meet the real-time requirements on resource-constrained edge-computing platforms. The MBConv block is first proposed by MobileNetV2 and has been widely used to construct lightweight CNNs. However, the MBConv block brings new challenges to the structure of the computing engine, the bandwidth requirement of off-chip memory and the demand for on-chip memory when designing hardware accelerators. In this paper, a convolution Block Oriented Accelerator (BOA) is proposed for the inference of CNNs constructed on MBConv blocks. In BOA, the MBConv-based CNNs are performed block by block using a Block-Based Engine which consists of dedicated computing units for each layer of the MBConv block. To reduce both the bandwidth requirement of off-chip memory and the demand for on-chip memory, a two-level data flow optimization and an amortized weight loading method are proposed. Furthermore, a hierarchical scheduling scheme is proposed to improve the performance and flexibility so that BOA can guarantee all units running in parallel and support various MBConv-based CNNs. Finally, we deploy BOA on Xilinx VC709. We evaluate the accelerator on ImageNet for image classification. The results show that BOA can perform various MBConv-based CNNs and achieve 1.28x - 7.75x speedup on inference latency.

Neuromorphic Edge Computing for Biomedical Applications: Gesture Classification Using EMG Signals

With the emergence of edge-computing platforms, the applications of smart wearable devices are immense. This technology can be incorporated in consumer products such as smartwatches and activity trackers, for continuous health monitoring, as well as for medical applications such as myoelectric prosthetics, to interpret the electric activity in the residual limb and achieve fast and precise control. However, wearable technologies require a lightweight, energy-efficient, and low-latency processing system in order to extend the devices’ autonomy while maintaining a realistic user-feedback interaction. Neuromorphic processing, thanks to its event-based and asynchronous nature, presents ideal characteristics for compact brain-inspired low-power and ultra-fast computing systems that can enable a new generation of wearable devices. This article presents two spiking neural networks (SNNs) for event-based electromyography (EMG) gesture recognition and their evaluation on Intel’s research neuromorphic chip Loihi. Specifically, the evaluation is done on the Kapoho Bay platform which embeds the Loihi processor in a Universal Serial Bus (USB) form factor device allowing for closed-loop edge computation. With accurate experimental evaluation, this article demonstrates that the proposed method is able to discriminate 12 different hand gestures using an eight-channel EMG sensor and exceeds state-of-the-art results. We obtained an accuracy of 74% on the commonly used NinaPro DB5 dataset, a processing latency of 5.7 ms for 300-ms EMG samples while consuming only 41 mW.

Implementation of EDGE Computing Platform in Feeder Terminal Unit for Smart Applications in Distribution Networks with Distributed Renewable Energies

Under the plan of net-zero carbon emissions in 2050, the high penetration of distributed renewable energies in distribution networks will cause the operation of more complicated distribution networks. The development of edge computing platforms will help the operator to monitor and compute the system status timely and locally, and it can ensure the security operation of the system. In this paper, a novel EDGE computing platform that is implemented by a graphics processing unit in the existing feeder terminal unit (FTU) is proposed for smart applications in distribution networks with distributed renewable energies and loads. This platform makes timely forecasts of the feeder status for the next seven days in accordance with historical weather, sun, and loading data. The forecast solver uses the machine learning long short-term memory (LSTM) method. Thereafter, the power calculation analyzers transform feeder topology into the circuit model for transient-state, steady-state, and symmetrical component analyses. An important-factor explainer parses the LSTM model into the concise value of each historical datum. All information transports to remote devices via the internet for the real-time monitor feature. The software stack of the EDGE platform consists of the database archive file system, time-series forecast solver, power flow analyzers, important-factor explainer, and message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) protocol communication. All open-source software packages, such as SQLite, LSTM, ngspyce, Shapley Additive Explanations, and Paho-MQTT, form the aforementioned function. The developed EDGE forecast and power flow computing platform are helpful for achieving FTU becoming an Internet of Things component for smart operation in active distribution networks.

Operating performance of silicon photonic optical switches integrated with WDM filters for low-latency edge-computing platforms

We investigated the performance of a silicon photonic device integrating pn-junction-type Mach-Zehnder interferometer optical switches with wavelength-division-demultiplexing and multiplexing (WDM-DEMUX and MUX) filters that perform switching operations to transmit packet data between edge computing. After separating the 1535 and 1565 nm signals with the Mach-Zehnder delay interferometer-type WDM-DEMUX/MUX filters, cascaded dynamic switching operation with a few nanoseconds turn-on/off for On-Off keying (OOK) signals at 10 Gbps were achieved. The power penalty difference between the input and output was within 0.5 dB for 1565-nm signals. We also verified the switching operation at a bit rate of 25 Gbps and observed clear eye openings.

SPTM-EC: A Security and Privacy-Preserving Task Management in Edge Computing for IIoT

Data/tasks of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) are extremely private and valuable to computing. Edge computing facilitates IIoT services by offering platforms of supportive facilities and functionalities. However, the convergence of intelligent edge computing and IIoT platforms has been held back by the need to develop systems for maintaining security and privacy. In this article, we propose a new framework for securely and confidentially sending, storing, and computing IIoT tasks. This framework employs a lightweight encryption scheme alongside modified ElGamal encryption and digital signature schemes. We analyzed the robustness of this framework in terms of security and privacy, and assessed its performance through simulations. Ultimately, the proposed framework outperformed the existing models in terms of time complexity, latency, and energy consumption.

Automated Ensemble for Deep Learning Inference on Edge Computing Platforms

Advances in deep learning (DL) have triggered an explosion of mobile intelligence, posing a soaring demand for computing resources that cannot be satisfied by mobile devices. In this article, we employ <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">edge computing</i> to deliver better DL inference services to end users. The key is to leverage deep neural network (DNN) ensemble techniques that provide state-of-the-art performance for many machine learning applications in terms of inference accuracy and robustness. Compared to end devices, the edge computing platform is endowed with more powerful computing resources, making it feasible to implement DNN ensembles for DL inferences. However, due to the constrained computing capacity of edge servers and the possible service response deadline, an edge server can only use a limited number of DNNs to construct DNN ensembles. This poses a unique problem, namely, DNN ensemble selection, for identifying the best-fit DNN ensembles. We propose a novel algorithm called automated DNN ensemble selection (AES) algorithm to solve this problem. Because DNNs exhibit performance variations over different distributions of input data, AES adaptively determines a DNN ensemble according to the features of admitted inference tasks. AES is an online learning algorithm that learns DNNs’ in-use performance over time. An ensemble selection rule is further designed as a subroutine of AES to recruit members into the DNN ensemble based on the accuracy and diversity of DNNs. In particular, we theoretically prove that AES can achieve asymptotic optimality. We carry out experiments on real-world data sets. The results show that using the DNN ensemble technique on edge computing platforms dramatically improves the DL inference quality, and AES outperforms other benchmark schemes.

Edge-Oriented Computing: A Survey on Research and Use Cases

Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm such that client data are processed at the periphery of the network, as close as possible to the originating source. Since the 21st century has come to be known as the century of data due to the rapid increase in the quantity of exchanged data worldwide (especially in smart city applications such as autonomous vehicles), collecting and processing such data from sensors and Internet of Things devices operating in real time from remote locations and inhospitable operating environments almost anywhere in the world is a relevant emerging need. Indeed, edge computing is reshaping information technology and business computing. In this respect, the paper is aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of what edge computing is as well as the most relevant edge use cases, tradeoffs, and implementation considerations. In particular, this review article is focused on highlighting (i) the most recent trends relative to edge computing emerging in the research field and (ii) the main businesses that are taking operations at the edge as well as the most used edge computing platforms (both proprietary and open source). First, the paper summarizes the concept of edge computing and compares it with cloud computing. After that, we discuss the challenges of optimal server placement, data security in edge networks, hybrid edge-cloud computing, simulation platforms for edge computing, and state-of-the-art improved edge networks. Finally, we explain the edge computing applications to 5G/6G networks and industrial internet of things. Several studies review a set of attractive edge features, system architectures, and edge application platforms that impact different industry sectors. The experimental results achieved in the cited works are reported in order to prove how edge computing improves the efficiency of Internet of Things networks. On the other hand, the work highlights possible vulnerabilities and open issues emerging in the context of edge computing architectures, thus proposing future directions to be investigated.

A Scalable Simulator for Cloud, Fog and Edge Computing Platforms with Mobility Support

A Scalable Simulator for Cloud, Fog and Edge Computing Platforms with Mobility Support

Comprehensive Analysis of Heterogeneous Computing Performance of Dnns Under Typical Frameworks on Cloud and Edge Computing Platforms

Comprehensive Analysis of Heterogeneous Computing Performance of Dnns Under Typical Frameworks on Cloud and Edge Computing Platforms

Bargaining Game-Based Resource Management for Pervasive Edge Computing Infrastructure

The explosive growth of Internet of things (IoT) devices has promoted the prosperity of virtual reality applications, which can be realized by service offloading with the assistance of pervasive edge computing (PEC) platforms. However, owing to the limited computational and communication resources of PEC systems, it is necessary to design a novel resource management algorithm. In this study, we adopt cooperative bargaining theory to design our PEC resource allocation scheme. According to the concept of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">unification bargaining solution</i> , different bargaining ideas are reciprocally combined to provide a fair-efficient solution. By coordinating network agents, we can leverage mutual consensus and approximate a well-balanced system performance among conflicting requirements. It is essential to explore the relevant trade-off between efficiency and fairness. To effectively share the PEC resources, the main novelty of our approach is its adaptability and flexibility to respond dynamic PEC system environments. Finally, extensive simulations are carried out, and the numerical results demonstrate that our unified bargaining method can obtain desirable features while maximizing the offloading service performance by comparing the existing state-of-the-art PEC control protocols.

Towards a Novel Air–Ground Intelligent Platform for Vehicular Networks: Technologies, Scenarios, and Challenges

Modern cities require a tighter integration with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for bringing new services to the citizens. The Smart City is the revolutionary paradigm aiming at integrating the ICT with the citizen life; among several urban services, transports are one of the most important in modern cities, introducing several challenges to the Smart City paradigm. In order to satisfy the stringent requirements of new vehicular applications and services, Edge Computing (EC) is one of the most promising technologies when integrated into the Vehicular Networks (VNs). EC-enabled VNs can facilitate new latency-critical and data-intensive applications and services. However, ground-based EC platforms (i.e., Road Side Units—RSUs, 5G Base Stations—5G BS) can only serve a reduced number of Vehicular Users (VUs), due to short coverage ranges and resource shortage. In the recent past, several new aerial platforms with integrated EC facilities have been deployed for achieving global connectivity. Such air-based EC platforms can complement the ground-based EC facilities for creating a futuristic VN able to deploy several new applications and services. The goal of this work is to explore the possibility of creating a novel joint air-ground EC platform within a VN architecture for helping VUs with new intelligent applications and services. By exploiting most modern technologies, with particular attention towards network softwarization, vehicular edge computing, and machine learning, we propose here three possible layered air-ground EC-enabled VN scenarios. For each of the discussed scenarios, a list of the possible challenges is considered, as well possible solutions allowing to overcome all or some of the considered challenges. A proper comparison is also done, through the use of tables, where all the proposed scenarios, and the proposed solutions, are discussed.