Role of Fog Computing in Smart Spaces

• Published in: 2022 IEEE International Conference on Edge Computing and Communications (EDGE) pp. 69 - 76
• Main Authors: Elwy, Fatema, Aburukba, Raafat, Al-Ali, A. R.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.07.2022
• Subjects: Cloud computing; Computational modeling; Data centers; Fog computing; Internet of Things; IoT; Medical services; Servers; Smart cities
• ISSN: 2767-9918
• DOI: 10.1109/EDGE55608.2022.00021

As the prevalence of smart city applications in the era of the digital economy is significantly growing, the Internet of Things (IoT) has evolved to be a part of our everyday lives. Most IoT applications and smart spaces are implemented in the context of a two-tier approach, with the lower tier being the IoT edge devices and the upper tier being the back-end servers in cloud data centers. However, the growth of IoT data and devices at the edge of smart applications challenges the efficiency and time-sensitivity of the two-tier approach. Hence, it is critical to comprehend the significance of integrating a middle tier between the cloud and edge tiers, known as the fog tier. The fog tier's main purpose is to decentralize the IoT workload to reduce latency and increase efficiency. This paper provides a review and presents a 3-Tier, 3-Dimensions reference model for smart spaces. The 3-tier represent the edge, fog, and cloud tiers, where each tier is coupled with the 3-dimensions that include computing, network, and application. Each dimension within each tier is presented along with the existing technologies that deliver on each dimension. The work presents a case study within a smart healthcare application that utilizes the presented reference model.