Communication, Computing, and Learning on the Edge

There has been a consensus that the next revolution of computing lies in realizing an “intelligent edge” referring to the realization of AI and ubiquitous computing at the network edge (smart phones and sensors). This has led to the emergence of two closely related areas called edge computing and edge learning. The former concerns operations such as offloading computation-intensive tasks from resource-scarce edge devices to the edge server or cloud while the latter focuses on machine learning using distributed data to acquire intelligence for devices. Research in these areas crosses different disciplines, namely wireless communication, computing, and machine learning. In this paper, we introduce these emerging and interconnected areas, present research challenges and opportunities therein, and discuss implementation issues.