A Decentralized Approach for Resource Discovery using Metadata Replication in Edge Networks

Recent advancements in distributed systems have enabled deploying low-latency edge applications (i.e., IoT applications) in proximity to the end-users, respectively, in edge networks. The stringent requirements combined with heterogeneous, resource-constrained and dynamic edge networks make the deployment process a challenging task. Besides that, the lack of resource discovery features make it particularly difficult to fully exploit available resources (i.e., computational, storage, and IoT resources) provided by low-powered edge devices. To that end, this article proposes a decentralized resource discovery mechanism that enables discovering resources in an automatic manner in edge networks. Through replicating resource descriptions (i.e., metadata), edge devices exchange information about available resources within their scope in a peer-to-peer manner. To handle the resource discovery complexity, we propose a solution to built edge networks as a flat model and enable edge devices to be organized in clusters. Our approach supports the system in coping with the dynamicity and uncertainty of edge networks. We discuss the architecture, processes of the approach, and the experiments we conducted on a testbed to validate its feasibility on resource-constrained edge networks.