Wireless Edge Computing With Latency and Reliability Guarantees

Edge computing is an emerging concept based on distributed computing, storage, and control services closer to end network nodes. Edge computing lies at the heart of the fifth-generation (5G) wireless systems and beyond. While the current state-of-the-art networks communicate, compute, and process data in a centralized manner (at the cloud), for latency and compute-centric applications, both radio access and computational resources must be brought closer to the edge, harnessing the availability of computing and storage-enabled small cell base stations in proximity to the end devices. Furthermore, the network infrastructure must enable a distributed edge decision-making service that learns to adapt to the network dynamics with minimal latency and optimize network deployment and operation accordingly. This paper will provide a fresh look to the concept of edge computing by first discussing the applications that the network edge must provide, with a special emphasis on the ensuing challenges in enabling ultrareliable and low-latency edge computing services for mission-critical applications such as virtual reality (VR), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), edge artificial intelligence (AI), and so on. Furthermore, several case studies where the edge is key are explored followed by insights and prospect for future work.

I. Introduction

The ever-increasing requirements of wireless services in Media & Entertainment (M&E) as well as in healthcare and well-being demands are transforming the way that the data are communicated and processed. Future networks are anticipated to support a massive number of connected devices requesting a variety of different services such as mobile video streaming, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR), as well as mission-critical applications. Such services require data, computation, and storage to be performed more often with ultrahigh success rate and minimal latency. Multiaccess edge computing (MEC) has emerged as an infrastructure that enables data processing and storage at the network edge as a means to cut down the latency between the network nodes and the remote servers that typically existed in cloud computing architectures [1]. Instead, edge computing can be provided as a service at the network edge to minimize the service latency and network complexity and save the device nodes’ energy and battery consumption.