What We Learned from Building Edge Compute

In this presentation, I explain what we have learned from building compute services at the edge by diving into three engineering different projects.

This version of the talk was given at the 2023 Edition of Open Source Summit North America as part of the "Cloud Open" track.

Transcript

1. What We Learned From
   Building Edge Compute
   

   View Slide

2. Sr. Developer Advocate at HashiCorp
   he / him
   @ksatirli
   Kerim
   Satirli
   

   View Slide

3. edge com·put·ing
   noun
   computing that takes place at or
   near the physical location of the
   producer or consumer of data.
   point of presence mobile datacenter
   Similar:
   

   View Slide

4. 01
   The Airport
   Over-engineering a thermostat
   

   View Slide

5. "pnr": "RMT33W",

   "action": "boarding"
   

   View Slide

6. Challenge:
   understand an area's pulse
   

   View Slide

7. Solution:
   deploy wireless IoT network
   

   View Slide

8. var C // capacity (mAh)
   var I // current when in sleep mode (mA)
   var Imeas // current in measurement mode (mA)
   var Irx // current in Rx mode (mA)
   var Itx // current in Tx mode (mA)
   var N // measurements (count)
   var T // milliseconds per hour (3.6M)
   var Tmeas // duration of measurement mode (ms)
   var Trx // duration of Rx mode (ms)
   var Ttx // duration of Tx mode (ms)
   var U // usable capacity incl. self-discharge (percentage)
   Projecting Battery Capacity
   

   View Slide

9. // active capacity usage / day
   var cA = ((N * ((Ttx * Itx) + (Trx * Irx) + (Tmeas * Imeas))) / T)
   // sleep capacity usage / day
   var cS = I * (24 - ((Ttx + Trx + Tmeas) * N) / T)
   // total capacity consumed / day
   var cT = cA + cS
   // projected battery life
   var Bd = (cU / cT) / 24 // in days
   var By = Bd / 365.25 // in years
   Projecting Battery Capacity
   

   View Slide

10. = 7.6 years
    !
    

    View Slide

11. Occupancy Sensor
    0
    20
    40
    60
    80
    100
    Q4 2018 Q2 Q3 Q4 2019 2022 2023
    "
    #
    $
    Graphing Battery Capacity
    

    View Slide

12. // assembled and decoded payload (via webhook)
    var payload
    // remaining battery capacity (0...254)
    var capacity = var.payload.capacity
    // remaining battery capacity (0...254)
    var capacity_in_percent = (var.capacity / 254) * 100
    // overwrite capacity value with percentage-based one
    payload.capacity = var.capacity_in_percent
    Calculating Battery Capacity
    

    View Slide

13. Learning:
    go beyond the software
    

    View Slide

14. 02
    The Grocer
    Orchestrating a DDoS from within
    

    View Slide

15. 150 x
    hypermarkets
    63 x
    supermarkets
    1000 x
    minimarkets
    

    View Slide

16. + 37 points
    

    View Slide

17. {
    "id": "5d1caf08-4235-451d-9fac-4f8d56e89e2e",
    "timestamp": "2023-01-01T05:01:57Z",
    "card": "966255423827",
    "amount": "37.26"
    }
    Customer Transaction Data
    

    View Slide

18. single transaction size 200 Bytes
    envelopes and overages + 1.25 x
    per-store transactions 2500
    per-store transaction size 610 Kilobytes
    total transaction size 723 Megabytes
    total transaction count 3.032.500
    Customer Transaction Data
    

    View Slide

19. Challenge:
    don't DDoS ourselves
    

    View Slide

20. Solution:
    build a local "cache"
    

    View Slide

21. SQLite packages the entire
    database into a single,
    cross-platform compatible file.
    - SQLite documentation
    

    View Slide

22. Learning:
    develop with constraints
    

    View Slide

23. Learning:
    build for offline-first
    

    View Slide

24. 03
    The Farm
    Feeding without the Frenzy
    

    View Slide

25. 2 out of 3 farms use IIoT
    but farmers aren't SW engs
    

    View Slide

26. View Slide

27. View Slide

28. Learning:
    optimize generously
    

    View Slide

29. Learning:
    use boring hardware
    

    View Slide

30. edge compute nodes 115
    containerized workloads 900
    data transfer / month 80 Terabytes
    combined memory 115 Gigabytes
    combined CPU 103 GHz
    Boring Hardware?
    

    View Slide

31. Powerful Food
    arstechnica.com/science/2023/05/researchers-craft-a-fully-edible-battery
    

    View Slide

32. Thank you
    speakerdeck.com/ksatirli
    

    View Slide