Crowdsourced Edge: A Novel Networking Paradigm for the Collaborative Community

Edge computing established paradigms are prone to implicate solely powerful server-like edge nodes, in static or semistatic topologies, in their edge network. Moreover, in all cases the network ownership resides with some centrally-controlled entity. In this paper, leveraging upon recent technological advancements and trends, we introduce a novel networking paradigm employing resources provided by independent crowd peers, within a zone of local proximity, to establish collaborative networks for edge computing. We call this paradigm the Crowdsourced Edge. We detail the architecture and characteristics of this novel paradigm, highlighting its unique characteristics and specific challenges, while also positioning it vis-a-vis the existing edge computing concretisations. Alternative to the rigid, businessoriented, existing approaches, the Crowdsourced Edge promotes a vendor-free collaborative edge computing ecosystem, capable of handling extreme dynamicity and heterogeneity while ensuring data privacy and data ownership for its users all along the way.