A Survey on In-Network Computing: Programmable Data Plane and Technology Specific Applications

In comparison with cloud computing, edge computing offers processing at locations closer to end devices and reduces the user experienced latency. The new recent paradigm of in-network computing employs programmable network elements to compute on the path and prior to traffic reaching the edge or cloud servers. It advances common edge/cloud server based computing through proposing line rate processing capabilities at closer locations to the end devices. This paper discusses use cases, enabler technologies and protocols for in-network computing. According to our study, considering programmable data plane as an enabler technology, potential in-network computing applications are in-network analytics, in-network caching, in-network security, and in-network coordination. There are also technology specific applications of in-network computing in the scopes of cloud computing, edge computing, 5G/6G, and NFV. In this survey, the state of the art, in the framework of the proposed categorization, is reviewed. Furthermore, comparisons are provided in terms of a set of proposed criteria which assess the methods from the aspects of methodology, main results, as well as application-specific criteria. Finally, we discuss lessons learned and highlight some potential research directions.