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The i2CAT Foundation has joined COGNIFOG (AI-empowered Edge Cloud Continuum for self-aware cognitive computing environments), a research project funded under the Horizon Europe programme with more than 5 million euros. The project’s consortium comprises 12 European partners, composed of leading academic and industrial institutions, that will work together during the next three years to develop a software solution tailored as a Cognitive Fog Framework (Cognitive-Fog) that will provide the necessary services and building blocks for any smart IoT application requiring autonomous data processing and strong computing capacity along the IoT to edge to cloud continuum.
The software solution envisioned by COGNIFOG will enable data processing closer to its IoT sources (i.e., devices) and provide the real-time response required by many smart IoT applications while abstracting away the hardware complexity and heterogeneity of edge environments.
Within COGNIFOG, i2CAT will lead the design and development of the connectivity layer modules which are required to assure end-to-end connectivity between services deployed across the edge and cloud continuum, as well as user devices. The i2CAT contribution aims at providing connectivity between services and core functions of the architecture and to enabling connectivity towards user equipment. For that, the i2CAT researchers will consider wireless technologies as well as the necessary tools (radio access network controllers, SDN frameworks, IoT gateways, etc.) to enable seamless and secure connectivity in the heterogeneous topologies targeted by the project. i2CAT will also be in charge of the lab testing and optimisation. The Cognitive-Fog components will be extensively tested at laboratory environment using semiautomatic procedures for stability and efficiency. Finally, i2CAT will align the project with ongoing initiatives of complementary technological projects related to the compute continuum from IoT-to-edge-to-cloud with the objective of seeking advice and engaging them as multipliers. The main goal is to ensure a common and strong European Task Force in this field.
COGNIFOG will validate the project’s results in three use cases. The first will be implemented in Thales (Paris, Saclay) to validate the integration of the COGNIFOG building blocks to support coordination crisis management. Using the centennial flood in Paris as the usage scenario, the trial will be focused on demonstrating the dependability and time-predictability of cloud-native services. The second use case will be implemented in Piraeus (Greece) to showcase the use of edge computing in e-health services, with further cloud processing and storage using an AI framework. The use case will also involve the use of medical IoT devices for accurate patient assessment in mobile or remote settings. Finally, the third use case will be implemented in Patras (Greece) and will be based on the automated edge-cloud continuum for smart manufacturing. The aim is to improve shopfloor efficiency by introducing flexible mobile dual-arm robots controlled by a flexible IT infrastructure that will optimize the use of computing resources in terms of throughput, costs, and energy savings.
Overall, COGNIFOG seeks to ensure European leadership by providing an open, interoperable framework with open APIs for application developers to rapidly create and deploy applications benefiting the edge-cloud continuum on top heterogeneous IoT/IT systems.
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