Edge IoT – Principles, challenges, drivers and trends

The way digital technology is evolving, edge compute and the internet of things (IoT) are destined to go hand-inhand. The reason to consider edge in an IoT ecosystem is that killer applications and use cases in both the consumer and industrial sectors need to address the vast and varied requirements of low latency, quick data processing, better energy efficiency, zero-touch device provisioning, robust data security, and cost reduction.

Including edge in an IoT ecosystem addresses specific use cases, such as massive data processing and management of centralized gateways – for instance, in a car or an oil refinery – where multiple sensor nodes working on different technologies like Zigbee, Thread, Wi-Fi, BLE, and Z-Wave communicate to an edge gateway for quick data analytics and processing. Edge also supports both device and data security better with a zero-touch provisioning concept based on the GSMA IoT SAFE standard for e-SIM/i- SIM-based IoT devices.

Edge IoT is also becoming critical for 5G networks to enable new applications for massive machine-type communications (MMTC) and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) based on the evolving 3GPP R16/ R17 standard. Edge will evolve its relationship with these emerging standards bodies.

This white paper provides insight into the dimensions of the challenges in consumer and industrial automation. It explores how edge wireless sensor nodes and edge gateway design elements can overcome IoT ecosystem challenges for specific use cases, such as video surveillance in residential communities, data management in connected cars, and security in the retail segment.

Capgemini Engineering believes that edge-based IoT-solution design covering sensor nodes and gateways can bring many advantages to the consumer and industrial market segments.