An Exploration of Edge Computing When Applied to a Distributed Sensor Network

Abstract

Data is what drives our world today. There has never in human history been such an explosion of digital information. Due to increasing data usage, data-related issues such as increasing cost, decreasing network performance, and decreasing security have begun to emerge in society, causing new computing technologies to be developed. One of these technologies is edge computing. This thesis will explore the concept of the ”edge” through the construction of a 3 layer distributed sensor network. The network will utilize edge computing to efficiently handle influxes of real-time environmental data. The implementation of the 3 layers will be discussed in detail, as well as the testing and deployment of the sensor network. An evaluation will be performed on the quality of the distributed sensor network and the benefits that edge computing has in addressing data-related issues related to cost, network performance, and security.