Edge and Fog Computing: differences and similarities
Fog computing and edge computing are often confused, probably due to the similarity of the functionalities they offer in terms of data processing and data sending to analytical platforms located close to the data source (e.g. sensors on machinery, wearables, various types of devices on assets to be monitored and controlled). Both technologies can help organizations reduce their reliance on cloud-based platforms to analyze data, which often leads to latency issues with negative impacts particularly in use cases where closed-loop control is expected, typical of Smart Building, Health, Industry, to get closer to a data-driven approach that allows it to take faster decisions. In this perspective, in line with the increase in computation stress on Cloud systems within the networks, we will see the decentralization of the selected processing to be implemented on or near (at the edge) of the IoT field sensors collecting data. Fog and edge computing architectures therefore reduce the amount of data that must be sent and received from remote servers on the cloud and facilitate the immediate use of the data on which it is necessary to operate processing often within milliseconds or tens of milliseconds from the collection. The main difference between fog and edge computing is where the processing of that data occurs. In Edge Computing , the data are processed on the same devices (if they have enough computational capability), or on the “IoT gateways”, i.e. Edge Computers connected to the devices in the local network. In Fog Computing solutions, instead, the data processing activities take place on a network of computing elements (hub, node, router, edge computer, smart device or gateway): the microprocessors on IoT gateways, or on edge computers or personal computers, connected to the LAN, which constitute the fog nodes of the LAN, which could be physically far from the sensors and actuators. In addition, usually the “fog” paradigm prefers “open” technologies while the more flexible “edge” paradigm usually uses both “open” and “proprietary/licensed” technologies. From risk analysis point of view, edge computing could be preferable to fog computing as it potentially contains fewer elements in which a failure could occur. In fact, in the “fog” architecture each sensor or device within the network must be programmed to determine what kind of information should be stored and processed locally and what should be sent to the cloud for further processing and/or storage. However, the difference is not so pronunced, so both Edge and Fog Computing approaches allow lower latency than Cloud computing and therefore are more suitable for the rapid analysis required in real-time or near-time applications. Cloud computing instead, offers superior and advanced processing capabilities, superior processing power and storage capacity and therefore is the most suitable technology for complex and in-depth long-term data analysis. Another important difference relates to internet use and security : cloud computing requires 24/7 Internet access , while the other two can work offline. Therefore, fog and edge computing are best suited for use cases where IoT sensors may not have seamless connectivity to the Internet. Regarding the security issue, since the data is distributed between the nodes (Fog computing) or in the device itself (Edge computing), it is more difficult to manipulate them -despite the centralized cloud system – but on the other hand, the use of cloud computing is preferred in case security policies are implemented on a single data repository (instead of multiple repositories distributed in the network). Thanks to the use of different data centers and small devices, the probability that a violation interrupts the entire network is reduced. Studies reveal that more than 50% of U.S. companies consider rapid and accurate data collection and analysis to be an essential aspect of their strategy, so it seems unlikely that this is just a passing fad. Statistics also show that the market for edge computing services is set to increase by 50% in the next year, especially with the rise of AI technology that requires fast machine learning. Currently, about 10% of data is collected and processed outside of conventional cloud computing methods. However, a study by Gartner predicts that by 2025, about 75% of data will be processed outside the cloud. The global edge computing market by region covers 5 major geographic regions, namely, North America, Asia Pacific (APAC), Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. Companies that want to ensure a high level of competitiveness will necessarily reinvent the way they do business: the versatility and scalability of edge computing is perfectly suited to both start-ups and established companies, regardless of the type of company. It is well known that collecting, processing and analyzing data is a crucial success factor for companies, small, medium or large.
Call with Future con Sodalitas
Tera srl is proud to be part of Sodalitas Call for Future , the Sodalitas Foundation initiative that involves companies committed to achieving a sustainable future according to the UN 2030 Agenda, with particular attention to young people, citizens of tomorrow’s world. Sodalitas Call for Future gathers 150 concrete business actions that respond to four major challenges: Call for Planet, Call for People, Call for Work and Call for Better. Tera srl participates in Sodalitas Call for Future with the project “Beeta for School!” which aims to spread among students the culture of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability through a gaming app that stimulates them to live in a more conscious and balanced way, to reduce consumption and take care of the residential environment in which they live . Checking the trend of energy consumption, the impact of individual appliances and thermal systems on CO2 emissions, turning off unused devices, the benefits of the use of renewable sources in their homes (eg concept of prosumer photovoltaics), water saving, monitoring the level of CO2 in closed environments are just some of the activities induced by the project. The role of education as a vector of behavioral change amplifies the benefits by inducing the younger generation to involve the whole family. Sodalitas Call for Future promotes a dialogue between businesses and young people based on the common language of sustainability. The Together for Future competition is aimed at 2 million students in 7,500 Italian secondary schools, to help them discover the 150 business projects that are part of the initiative, and invite them to express their expectations and proposals for a sustainable future. All the corporate actions that are part of Sodalitas Call for Future can be viewed on the website sodalitascallforfuture.it, the digital platform dedicated to enhancing these initiatives so that they can be an example and an inspiration to many other realities. Sodalitas Call for Future is an initiative of Fondazione Sodalitas, in collaboration with : Fondazione italiana Accenture – digital partner, Omnicom PR group – communication partner, La Fabbrica – youth partner, Contrasto – visual partner, RUS – scientific partner, Legambiente – green partner, Walden Lab – research partner. Media partners: Adnkronos – Prometeo, Corriere della Sera – Buone Notizie, IGPDecaux, QVC Italia. Under the patronage of: European Commission, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, Lombardy Region, Assolombarda, Ferpi, Pubblicità Progresso.
Iot solutions for smart building and digital energy
Iot solutions for Smart Building and Digital Energy Tera Made in Italy solutions for Smart Building and Digital Energy are the result of decades of experience in research and development, design and implementation of systems for monitoring energy consumption, and are the result of ‘totally innovative and original approach with which IoT technologies are mastered. Tera’s products and services enable intelligent management of buildings and plants and contribute to the implementation of Energy Communities, Collective Self-consumption , VPP virtual production systems. In the field of facilities management and maintenance, the edge computing open approach enables the construction of infrastructures in which systems and devices …. read more
Smart Building and Smart Asset post Covid19
The consequences that Covid19 is inevitably producing within the spaces in which we live and work, that are coinciding even more, have highlighted the need for a greater organisation of spaces, not only in terms of sanitation but, more generally, in terms of further services that presuppose not only connectivity, but interconnection (services that dialogue with each other). The concept of IoT, which incorporates several devices that communicate with each other with different protocols and with several applications in a variety of use cases, is therefore becoming increasingly important. In order to obtain a model that allows improvements involving different aspects, such as operational, security and user experience, it is therefore useful to use an open, interoperable IoT approach, i.e. able to communicate “in different languages” with multiple devices and software (both applications and frameworks, development environments), to facilitate the user’s life and allow him to enable any type of application in a single solution. New opportunities for Facility Management In the field of plant management and maintenance, the open approach of edge computers makes it possible to build infrastructures where systems and devices work collaboratively to offer and exploit new relationships in terms of building usage, service consumption (water, energy, etc.), environmental, air quality and Covid19 control and information coming from a wide range of hardware devices that can be simply implemented in building edge applications. Meter measurement, continuous monitoring of an asset that alerts in real-time in case of anomalies, predictive maintenance and all those forms of prevention for example, can save people’s lives and make the living or working space a safer and more comfortable place. The technological innovation in the Building sector we are seeing, includes the interconnection and sharing of huge amounts of data derived from operational technologies in the field that are managed through advanced IT platforms aimed at implementing innovative digital processes, automating processes, and creating safe and intelligent spaces easily managed remotely. Unfortunately, the heterogeneity of resources that need to be monitored makes it difficult to apply an efficient model that is valid for everyone. Edge computers and flexibility Heating/cooling, lighting, air quality, access control are just some of the parameters user must be able to manage and control in real-time (or near-real-time)through an integrated data sharing system. One of the main challenges that innovators are facing in this period is the interoperability of systems, this is the IoT challenge. We believe that the GIoE and Beeta™ edge computers respond well to this challenge. The two control units are already compatible with: – FIN FRAMEWORK – is a software suite that provides monitoring, control, planning, alarms, visualization, integration and analysis functionality. FIN Framework is already used by many system integrators involved in BAS control, HVAC, lighting and screening in buildings. > https://www.j2inn.com/fin_5_launch – IBM EDGE – particularly suitable for interoperable applications that connect the field to the cloud in different IoT application areas > https://www.ibm.com/it-it/cloud/edge-application-manager – AWS IoT Greengrass – Brings functionality for computing, messaging, data management, synchronisation and local ML inference to edge devices > https://aws.amazon.com/it/greengrass/ Although the pandemic triggered by Covid19 has undoubtedly led to socio-economic disruptions hard to forget, on the other hand it has been a trigger for innovation in many application areas, first of all in the Building, which over time will bring considerable benefits in our everyday lives. See Tera edge computers: https://www.terasrl.it/en/edge-computers/
The “Smart Health Platform” project ranks 3 and is awarded by PROMIS as an agile model of open innovation in the healthcare sector
The “Smart Health Platform” project ranks 3 and is awarded by PROMIS as an agile model of open innovation in the healthcare sector Thanks to the synergistic work of local companies and istitutions, Puglia region achieves an important result in the field of technological innovation applied in the health sector. In the national competition dedicated to ” open innovation agile tools for the digital transformation of processes and products in the health field “, the ” Smart Health Platform “ project presented by AReSS Puglia and a team of technological partners, that is Openwork, Sincon, Tera, I-Tel and the Foundation “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza” IRCCS , ranked third, confirming the validity of a brilliant intuition and the effectiveness of a synergistic work with Apulian companies with many and different technological skills . The “Smart Health Platform” was launched in early 2020 on an experimental basis at the IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza” in San Giovanni Rotondo, where some young people suffering from multiple sclerosis have been followed at home. This system allowed to model a therapeutic assistance diagnostic plan (TADP) in digital and personalized format on the health conditions of the patient taken in charge by the health facility The immediate detection and exchange of data about patients conditions and environmental parameters, the so-called contextual awareness , is achieved thanks to a series of sensors placed to detect the parameters of interest sent to the doctor and shared by Tera multiprotocol IoT edge computers installed in the patients house. This allows detailed tracking of parameters and continuous monitoring of patients over time , functional to telemedicine in order to be able to intervene effectively and promptly on therapies. Contextual awareness is just one of the successful applications of edge computing in the e-health field, whose decentralized computing architectural model is establishing itself in all application areas, opening up numerous opportunities.
Electricity consumption monitoring. How to track energy consumption and production in real time?
The new generation of smart meters The new E-Distribuzione 2.0 (2G) smart meter is taking the place of the electronic one in Italy, which already took over from the electromechanical one in 2001. The new smart meter allows the distributor to accurately and “temporally certify” energy consumption through convenient (remote) operations and can thus send suppliers more exact data. The new meter has the features provided for by the technical specifications adopted by the italian Authority for Electricity, Gas and the Water System (ARERA) with resolution 87/2016, which also established a series of performance indicators concerning energy efficiency. This innovation will offer users increasingly accurate information for monitoring consumption, enabling innovative smart home services in IoT perspective, encouraging virtuous behavior thanks to the greater awareness that translates itself into benefits in terms of energy efficiency. The second step: experimental monitoring On 31 December 2018 ended the experimentation phase relating the performance monitoring under real conditions of the communication via PLC-C (Chain 2 “monitoring”) between the E-Distribution Open Meter meter and the User Device (DU). The purpose of that monitoring was to observe the quality of the communication performance on PLC-C (Chain 2) with reference to the response between the messages sent by the 2G meter and the messages received by the user device installed in the field. Starting from January 2019, a preliminary phase began where the subjects managing a user device, who proved interested in enabling the communication service via Chain 2 with the Open Meter, began to sign a contract dedicated to the service. Finally, after the first experiences and following a public consultation, the combined provisions of the authority’s decisions and the regulatory update of the Italian Electrotechnical Committee determined the final phase called “chain2 Full 2.0” which is more likely to start from October 2020 and which will make all the functions of the new meter available. Beeta Power, the powerful smart meter reader Tera has successfully participated in the experimentation started by E-Distribuzione using its own Beeta Power user device, which communicates with the new 2.0 meters. Is it possible to know in real time how much I’m consuming? Or how much is my photovoltaic system producing? Yes. The smart meter reader interacts with both Beeta Box and GIoE, respectively IoT gateway for Smart Home & Building and IoT gateway for Smart Industry, and detects exact data displayed via app, providing users useful knowledge about their energy consumption with low connection voltage, both single-phase and three-phase. In case of a photovoltaic plant,, the system also reads the production meter providing values both in kWh and in euros, thus implementing an easy and fast control mechanism that optimizes the performance of the system and allows user to save money.
Blockchain and P2P: two systems that could change the energy market
What can blockchain technology offer to the energy sector? According to a research named “blockchain opportunities for the P2P energy exchange”, carried out by the Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with EY, currently about 70% energy produced cannot be destined for self-consumption. Even if, in fact, the progressive diffusion of BESS systems (Battery Energy Storage System) will allow to increase more and more the percentage of self-consumption, it will always be a fraction of energy that “should be transferred” (not only to the network, but also to the “neighbors” or to residential complex, thanks to the european new rules introduced for Energy Communities. As a distributed ledger of transactions, freely accessible and based on the mutual consent between the participants in the network itself, with the intensive use of encryption and digital signature, the blockchain is part of the innovative path taken by smart grids to encourage cutomers to buy electricity produced by prosumers at a lower price than the market one. At the same time prosumers will be able to sell energy at a better price than those purchased by grid, promoting the growth of prosumers and giving more value to the energy fed into the grid. Blockchain technology is therefore opening up new services and features, revolutionizing traditional way of energy production and sale, changing the prosumers role. Currently they can just produce and consume energy, but not yet sell it. The current context, in fact, does not allow prosumers to sell the energy’ surplus (the difference between the produced and consumed energy) to the end consumers in their neighborhood, but they just get a contribution (net metering) according to the amount of energy fed into the grid. In Italy, when the ARERA authority will definitively fix the details to establish Energy Communities, predictably for autumn 2020, and when, in 2021, the European directive will be fully implemented, this potential will become reality. The proposed solution consists of a marketplace, jointly managed by utilities and other actors, where prosumers can sell their energy to consumers, who will have the opportunity to generate their own electricity supply plan by selecting the supply mix between energy produced by utilities and / or energy produced by prosumers. The access to the marketplace could be allowed by an annual fee to remunerate the billing process for prosumers managed by the utilities. Through this mechanism, it would be possible to ensure operators an increase in revenues, which would reduce the impact of lost revenues due to the loss of energy sold to prosumers. Tera is also contributing to this innovation, which is crossing smart building and smart grid needs, the so-called “p2p energy exchange” in micro-network environments. In this scenario an important role is played by Tera’s edge computers: they can run rutine and software tools implementing functions as “Blockchain” (better said BCDL, Block Chain Distributed Ledgers) to allow the “consumption certification” and, in general, the certification of economic and energetic transactions, triggered when functions related to the Energy Community are activated, as well as for grid flexibility services. Moreover, it’s very important in this context to be able to read the fiscal meter and do it in a simple way as Beeta Power does, offering players in the sector a significant advantage.
Edge computing, what it is and how it works
We often speak about Edge computing, Industry 4.0, Smart Processes, Smart Agricolture and Smart Manufacturing …. but what do they really mean? These terms often indicate the digital technologies used in many industries and different sectors to improve efficiency and productivity, while improving products and processes. The issue of Edge computing is becoming increasingly important among emerging technologies, connected to IoT (and its evolutions such as the IoE – internet of everything and the IIoT -Industrial IoT), and to 5G. It concerns the so-called fourth industrial revolution (I4.0) and also the global and pervasive digitalization. In this way, the opinion of Peter Levine (of Andreessen Horowitz) could be considered as an extreme, since he foresees that edge computing will soon declare the end of cloud computing. Moreover, Gartner confirms the growing and relevant interest in the issue by estimating that by 2022, the 75% of the data generated by companies will be processed outside the traditional data center, by technologies such as intelligent edge computing. There are many definitions of Edge computing online, in our opinion, if we consider that edge computing is implemented essentially through the use of devices named “edge computers”, we could say that it is a “way” to run applications on local computational systems that process data directly in the field, freeing them from close dependence with remote data centers, thus reducing Cloud congestion. The proliferation of connected devices, together with the possibility of processing “on site” and in real time (or ” near-real-time “), invite the community of system integrators, designers, systems engineers and user companies to adopt solutions that use edge computers where to run edge analytics services. What are the differences between Edge Computing and Cloud Computing? In our opinion, edge computing is at the same time a bridge and an alternative transit between the field levels and the cloud levels: if, on the one hand, the main focus, even if not exclusive, of the IoT is the level of field, sensors on objects and people, and on the other the Cloud is the natural location where the potential of the so-called “Big Data” technologies are fully expressed, edge computing is the enabling technology that allows you to implement, “on the field ”, some of the features typically destined for the cloud but which, if they were relegated exclusively to the cloud, would be limiting. In fact, some of the advantages obtainable with an Edge Computing solution in the IoT field, can be expressed in terms of: – Resilience , especially with regard to connectivity problems and secondly also with power supply problems: continuity of power supply and data network are difficult to guarantee 100%; the absence of power supply and connectivity in the field must always be taken into account, especially for “safety critical” applications, both when the causes are physiological, and when they are malicious, negligent or even intentional; it is therefore essential, in different types of applications, to have “system logics”, algorithms, which are able to keep the basic functions of an IoT system active even when there is no possibility of connecting to the Cloud; – Timeliness of the action , both when it comes to generating alarms and when it comes to real feedback typical of control systems, meaning the term control in the engineering sense; it is the so-called “real time” or “almost real time”, ie the low “latency” of the system; It is therefore essential, in some types of applications, to have the ability to generate alarms or feedbacks quickly, lower than those typically guaranteed with the cloud (and this even where it is often thought – erroneously – that 5G is in itself the solution, because in any case the low latency envisaged by 5G remains influenced by the unpredictable coexistence of many applications that divide the available bandwidth). Edge computing is therefore an increasingly relevant topic and the arguments set out above denote a level of strategic nature of this technology. Not to be overlooked, among the features of an edge computer, is not only the possibility of “running” algorithms, also of the “AI – Artificial Intelligence” type (or at least ML, Machine learning), but also the ability to simultaneously support a high number of communication protocols in order to expand the range of connectable devices and therefore the universality of the solution (expressed in terms of flexibility, sum of modularity and scalability). This is our vision that we try to transpose into our technological products, the result of planning and concrete skills, which combine highly technological know-how with the quality and safety of “made in Italy”.
Tera allo SMART BUILDING EXPO 2019
Tera ha il piacere di invitarti allo Smart Building Expo 2019 a Fiera Milano – Rho, l’evento italiano più importante in tema di integrazione tecnologica nel settore degli edifici: iscriviti alla nostra newsletter e richiedi subito il tuo biglietto omaggio. Dal 13 al 15 Novembre ti aspettiamo al Padiglione 6, Stand D16 con le nostre soluzioni IoT. Saremo lieti di mostrarti la compatibilità dei nostri Edge Computers con l’innovativa piattaforma FIN Framework della società californiana J2 Innovation Inc. (società del gruppo Siemens) . TORNA ALLA PRESS