Fog Computing out of the Box with FogDEFT Framework: A Case Study

Fog computing is the key technology to overcome the limitation of cloud computing in the domain of IoT applications. The service placement in the nearest fog devices drastically reduces the network delay, connectivity, and reliability issues and delivers real-time capabilities as an extension, reduces energy consumption and network overhead in the case of large sensor networks. However, the adoption rate of fog computing is not in proportion with the performance it proposes because, resource constraints, heterogeneity, and lack of standardization, require application-specific proprietary solutions. Therefore, we propose a framework that extends OASIS - Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications (TOSCA) standard for modeling IoT applications and uses containerization technology to handle platform independence and interoperability, creating seamless coordination and cooperation across fog devices. The framework abstracts all the heterogeneity and complexities and offers a user-friendly paradigm to model and dynamically deploy fog services, on-demand, on the fly, from a remote system. The framework is demonstrated with a case study of the dynamic deployment of climate control service on the fog prototype.