The incoming digital revolution has the potential to drastically improve our productivity,
reduce operational costs and improve the quality of the products. However, the realization
of these promises requires the convergence of technologies — from edge computing
to cloud, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things — blurring the lines between
the physical and digital worlds. Although these technologies evolved independently over
time, they are increasingly becoming intertwined. Their convergence will create an unprecedented
level of automation, achieved via massive machine-to-machine interactions
whose cornerstone are event processing tasks.
This thesis explores the intersection of these technologies by making an in-depth analysis
of their role in the life-cycle of event processing tasks, including their creation, placement
and execution. First, it surveys currently existing Web standards, Internet drafts,
and design patterns that are used in the creation of cloud-based event processing. Then, it
investigates the reasons for event processing to start shifting towards the edge, alongside
with the standards that are necessary for a smooth transition to occur. Finally, this work
proposes the use of deep reinforcement learning methods for the placement and distribution
of event processing tasks at the edge. Obtained results show that the proposed
neural-based event placement method is capable of obtaining (near) optimal solutions in
several scenarios and provide hints about future research directions.A nova revolução digital promete melhorar drasticamente a nossa produtividade, reduzir
os custos operacionais e melhorar a qualidade dos produtos. A concretizac¸ ˜ao dessas promessas
requer a convergˆencia de tecnologias – desde edge computing à cloud, inteligência
artificial e Internet das coisas (IoT) – atenuando a linha que separa o mundo físico do digital.
Embora as quatro tecnologias mencionadas tenham evoluído de forma independente
ao longo do tempo, atualmente elas estão cada vez mais interligadas. A convergência destas
tecnologias irá criar um nível de automatização sem precedentes.The research published in this work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for
Science and Technology (FCT) through CEOT (Center for Electronic, Optoelectronic and
Telecommunications) funding (UID/MULTI/00631/2020) and by FCT Ph.D grant to Andriy
Mazayev (SFRH/BD/138836/2018)
