PUF-based Authentication Scheme for Edge Data Centers in Collaborative Edge Computing

Fog computing gained importance when the re-quired infrastructure became more decentralized. The difference between Fog and Edge computing is that the former has nodes between the cloud and edge devices. In a way both fog and edge computing bring data processing closer to end-user devices. Edge Data Centers (EDCs) are employed to bring the processing power closer to the end-user to address latency in real-time applications, bandwidth, battery life constraints, as well as data privacy and safety. Edge Data centers are employed in collaborative edge computing environments across network edges, and they deliver uninterrupted processing through load balancing, where an overloaded Edge Data Center can off-load its task to the next available EDC. Authenticating EDCs is one of the challenges in collaborative edge computing environment where load balancing is applied. Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) are lightweight innovative primitives that are used for authentication and secure key storage. This work proposes a novel authentication scheme for EDCs using virtual Physical Unclonable Functions as a secure oPtion.