Offloading Execution from Edge to Cloud: a Dynamic Node-RED Based Approach

TL;DR

This paper presents a dynamic offloading approach from edge devices to the cloud using Node-RED, enabling efficient IoT gateway operation adaptable to varying demands and conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel offloading method integrated into Node-RED for IoT gateways, with real-world evaluation and comparison of strategies.

Findings

Offloading reduces resource consumption during high demand.

Different strategies impact system performance and service levels.

The approach enhances IoT gateway flexibility and efficiency.

Abstract

Fog computing enables use cases where data produced in end devices are stored, processed, and acted on directly at the edges of the network, yet computation can be offloaded to more powerful instances through the edge to cloud continuum. Such offloading mechanism is especially needed in case of modern multi-purpose IoT gateways, where both demand and operation conditions can vary largely between deployments. To facilitate the development and operations of gateways, we implement offloading directly as part of the IoT rapid prototyping process embedded in the software stack, based on Node-RED. We evaluate the implemented method using an image processing example, and compare various offloading strategies based on resource consumption and other system metrics, highlighting the differences in handling demand and service levels reached.