Edge Computing

Edge computing is distributed architecture methodology which brings some very specific advantages due to the distributed nature of the architecture. Using this architecture, businesses can enjoy benefits such as lower latency, reduced network bandwidth usage and near real-time processing of time-critical data.

Edge Computing
Edge Computing!! Ain’t it funny??

But what is Edge Computing after all?

With the rise of IoT (Internet of things) we are having several sensors or devices located at multiple locations. These sensors collect a massive amount of data. The businesses need to analyze and use this data for further processing. If all sensors are to send data to central server continuously, that would mean each one will need uninterrupted internet connectivity. It will end up in consuming huge network bandwidth. Also, sending data over the internet would also involve latency, which at least in certain cases may not be acceptable. All these things are expensive from a business perspective and here Edge Computing comes into the picture.

In this architecture, the collected data is processed near the edge by deploying some compute power – which could be low cost – near to the devices. This is referred as Device Edge. On these local machines, the data received could be received through local networks, not necessarily needing internet. Collected data could be processed near real-time and only actionable data is sent back to the central server immediately. Rest of the data could be archived as per the need on a periodic basis. As you can see, by deploying compute power near the devices, we have addressed all the three issues mentioned above.

There is another variant of Edge Computing. In above example, “Edge” is treated as an edge of the network where devices are located. Whereas in this other variant, “Edge” is treated as an edge of the cloud infrastructure. A close example of this is CDN – the static contents are cached on various edges across the globe and served based on geolocation of the request. However, CDN doesn’t involve any computing power.

There are some concerns about the security of the data at the edge locations, however, with careful planning, those could be handled satisfactorily.

Related Links

Related Keywords

Software Architecture, Cloud, IoT

RFID – Radio Frequency Identification

Radio Frequency Identification i.e. RFID is now a widely used technique and many might have even used it. But how many of us understand the technology behind it? Let’s learn a bit more about it today.

Warehouses typically use RFID
Warehouse Operations Using RFID

How does RFID work?

This technology consists of two parts – a tag and a reader. An RFID Tag is a small object which could be attached to objects that need to be tracked. These tags store some information in a non-volatile memory. This information could be permanent (Read Only) or could be changed using writer devices. The second part is the reader. It is a device which reads the data stored on the tag. The reader sends some signal to the tag and in response to that signal, the tag sends back the data stored with it. This process is known as “interrogation”. The signal that reader sends is a Radio Wave having a frequency between 120kHz and 10GHz.

Typical Use Cases

  • Animal identification
  • Warehouse Stock Identification
  • Promotion Tracking
  • Passport
  • Libraries
  • Payments at the toll booths

Use of RFID tags is growing globally and new use cases or needs are getting addressed.

NFL (National Football League) is using RFID tags on various sports accessories such as football and shoulder pad to collect a lot of data about the game. The data includes parameters like speed, acceleration, deceleration, location etc. Also, this data is captured 25 times per second. This would give a lot of insights to the trainers/coaches as well as to the fans of the NFL.

This type of data collection is possibly done using RFID Tag of type Active Reader Active Tag system. In this system, the readers are set to collect data from a specific interrogation zone so that data collection is strongly controlled.

A drone has been developed by researchers which can read RFID tags in a range which is few hundred square feet, instead of usual few feet range. This could be of significance for large warehouses such as Walmart or Amazon. It could potentially save several thousand dollars and person-hours in finding missing items.

In another significant area of Healthcare, RFID tag has been developed which could read vital body parameters such as heart rate and blood pressure. One central reader can receive data from as many as 200 RFID tags. This could improve the response by the medical team during large-scale emergency situations.

RFID is here to stay and become more and more mainstream.

Related Links

Related Keywords

Radio Waves, Barcode, Big Data, Wireless Communication, NFC

 

Android Things

Now this is something interesting. Android Things is an embedded OS platform by Google and is obviously Android-based 🙂 This platform is meant to target IoT (Internet Of Things) devices. IoT devices typically have power and memory constraints and this OS aims to operate within those constraints. Typically these devices have about 32 to 64 MB RAM.

Internet of Things - Android Things - embedded OS
Internet of Things – Android Things – embedded OS

History of Android Things

Google had announced OS for IoT devices back in 2015 with name “Brillo”. That OS was C++ based. However, it never came out of developer preview. Later in Dec 2016, Google announced Android Things which was based on Android i.e. Java. An important advantage of this shift is that development life cycle almost remains same as that of mobile app development. Developers can use Android Studio and other popular IDEs for development for this OS.

So, what’s latest on this front?

In current Consumer Electronics Show – CES 2018, many OEMs are announcing their products based on Android Things. e.g. Voice Activated Speakers powered by Android Things. Google Assistant will be coming to smart displays, which would be powered by Android Things. Check this video which shows a drawbot drawing a facial image captured by photo. As you would have guessed, this drawbot is powered by AndroidThings

Developers would be able to push the updates to the OS, just like other Google products.

Competitors:

  • Microsoft – Windows 10 IoT
  • Amazon – AWS Greengrass – this is not exact competition, but it is Amazon’s entry point of the IoT strategy.

Some References:

Related Keywords

Android, Operating System, Embedded OS, IoT, AWS Greengrass