On Using Micro-Clouds to Deliver the Fog

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of micro-clouds, composed of Raspberry Pi devices, to support fog computing applications in resource-constrained environments with limited bandwidth and high latency.

Contribution

It evaluates the feasibility of micro-clouds for fog computing and demonstrates their capability to host various applications in challenging network conditions.

Findings

Micro-clouds can effectively host fog applications.

Raspberry Pi-based micro-clouds are cost-effective and portable.

Micro-clouds perform well in environments with limited bandwidth.

Abstract

Cloud computing has demonstrated itself to be a scalable and cost-efficient solution for many real-world applications. However, its modus operandi is not ideally suited to resource-constrained environments that are characterized by limited network bandwidth and high latencies. With the increasing proliferation and sophistication of edge devices, the idea of fog computing proposes to offload some of the computation to the edge. To this end, micro-clouds---which are modular and portable assemblies of small single-board computers---have started to gain attention as infrastructures to support fog computing by offering isolated resource provisioning at the edge in a cost-effective way. We investigate the feasibility and readiness of micro-clouds for delivering the vision of fog computing. Through a number of experiments, we showcase the potential of micro-clouds formed by collections of Raspberry Pi computers to host a range of fog-related applications, particularly for locations where there is limited network bandwidths and long latencies.