An Edge Computing Based Gateway for WIA-PA Networks

Edge computing is a distributed processing architecture that includes computing, storage and network resources near the edge of network where data is generated. The specification of Wireless Networks for Industrial Automation-Process Automation (WIA-PA) is an industrial wireless communication standard with the advantages of low energy consumption and well real-time performance. Introducing edge computing to WIAPA networks leads to more powerful local processing ability and convenient interaction with cloud. However, existing WIAPA gateways do not directly support edge computing, which becomes a bottleneck. To address this issue, we propose an edge computing based gateway for WIA-PA networks, including new edge gateway structure, edge/cloud data processing method, and microservice for configuration among heterogeneous industrial network devices. Experimental results verify the performance of the proposed edge gateway.