The Service Node Placement Problem in Software-Defined Fog Networks

Nowadays, cloud computing has become a key paradigm in distributed applications thanks to the rise of low-power Internet-connected devices as commonplace. However, stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements are complicated to achieve when a pure cloud computing paradigm is applied, due to the physical distance between end devices and cloud servers. This motivated the appearance of fog computing, a paradigm that adds computation and storage resources, named fog nodes, closer to the end devices in order to reduce response time and latency. However, the placement of fog nodes, as well as the relative placement of the end devices each fog node serves, can affect the QoS obtained. This can be crucial to those services that have stringent QoS requirements. In this work, we analyze the effects that different placements of fog nodes have on QoS and present the problem of placing fog nodes to obtain an optimal QoS, with a focus on the Industrial Internet of Things domain because of its strict QoS requirements. We conclude that an optimized placement of the fog nodes can minimize latency to support the QoS requirements of IIoT applications.