What is edge computing (MEC)?
2021-01-04
What is edge computing (MEC)? To avoid the dullness of technology, let me give you an example. There is a very intelligent animal in nature-octopus. It has the highest IQ among invertebrates. Whether it is for escape or predation, it has many long tentacles that can be used freely. Scientists have found that the tentacles of the octopus are full of neurons, which can handle many actions independently. The octopus's brain only accounts for 40% of the processing. The other processing power is distributed on its 8 tentacles, which greatly enhances its strain processing. ability. If the human body is the central processing method of the brain, and 99% of its capabilities require the brain to respond, the octopus is a distributed processing system, and 60% relies on its "small brain" processing distributed in the antennae. Yes, this is the principle of edge computing. The calculation and processing capabilities are submerged to the edge closest to the business to complete. Most of them do not need to interact with the core network, and a few are interoperable with the core network. This is edge computing. The concept of Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) technology was first proposed in 2009 on the cloudlet computing platform developed by Carnegie Mellon University. In 2014, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) formally defined the basic concepts of MEC and established the MEC specification working group to start related standardization work. In 2016, ETSI extended this concept to multi-access edge computing, and extended the application of edge computing in mobile cellular networks to other wireless access networks (such as Wi-Fi). Under the promotion of ETSI, other international and Chinese standardization organizations including 3GPP and China Communications Standards Association (CCSA) have also initiated related work. Currently, MEC has evolved into one of the important technologies of 5G mobile communication systems. Why does 5G have to use edge computing? In the 5G era, mobile communication has shifted from the initial communication between people to the communication between people and things to the communication between things. AR/VR, Internet of Things, industrial automation, unmanned driving and other services have been introduced in large numbers, bringing network requirements for high bandwidth, low latency, and large connections. New services have increasingly demanding requirements for bandwidth, delay, and security, and the centralized deployment of traditional cloud computing has been unable to meet service requirements. Let's take a look at the following "5G flower" that can reflect the vision of 5G capabilities. We can see that the key capability requirements of the 5G vision are almost the pursuit of the ultimate, so that many people in the industry have always questioned: Can such a demanding 5G key capability really be realized? For example, how to realize the key capability of end-to-end delay of 1 milliseco...
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