Chapter 19. Edge Computing
What, exactly, is the edge? The edge is monitoring weather and drought conditions on a farm to ensure optimal crop production. The edge is an automated drone, flying solo, taking photographs or gathering environmental or geographical data. The edge is a semitruck transmitting information about where it is, its load, and its operating condition to a central transportation system. The edge is a smart home appliance that automatically knows when you are running low on something and assists you with ordering more. The edge is a smart home that monitors and keeps us safe, such as by shutting off a stove when a fire is detected or turning on an alarm when it knows you are no longer at home.
All of these are examples of edge computing. Each is an example of a novel use in and of itself. When we think about edge computing, these are the sorts of examples that come to mind. But what exactly is edge computing? Edge computing is taking part of your application and moving it closer to where the action is.
What do we mean by “the action”? By “the action,” we mean the source of interesting data that you want to process. This might be the end user of the application or the system being controlled. Or it might be the thing at the end of your application that represents the reason your application exists…the thing it was designed and built for.
Edge computing is about putting computation close to the need for that computation. Edge computing is, quite simply, putting ...
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