Edge Computing: Frameworks, Current Applications, Security, and Challenges
A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Computing and Artificial Intelligence".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2025 | Viewed by 52
Special Issue Editors
Interests: edge computing; smart cities; QoS; blockchain; federated learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: smart cities; smart scenarios; cloud computing; edge computing; resource management; data management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
In recent years, edge computing has emerged as a paradigm that brings computation closer to the end user/data source, reducing latency, improving communication efficiency, and enabling real-time data processing. These capabilities are of central importance for current and next-generation applications enabled by the proliferation of IoT devices, autonomous systems, novel 5G/6G communication technologies, and AI-driven applications. However, with the increasing adoption and complexity of edge computing architectures, ensuring scalability, interoperability, robustness, and energy efficiency has arisen as a notable challenge. Additionally, the distributed architecture of edge computing introduces critical security and privacy challenges, requiring specific mechanisms to prevent data breaches, highlighting the lack of strong mechanisms for encryption and authentication, multi-tenancy risks, and interoperability gaps, among other issues.
This Special Issue of Applied Sciences will explore the latest advancements in edge computing architectures, middleware solutions, security frameworks, and resource management techniques. Furthermore, it will examine real-world applications of edge computing across domains, such as smart cities, healthcare, industrial automation, and next-generation networks, while promoting discussions on future research directions. We invite researchers to contribute original works that will advance the field of edge computing and help shape future research directions.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- The integration of cloud and edge platforms;
- Software-defined and virtualized edge infrastructures;
- The AI-driven orchestration of edge resources;
- Energy-efficient computing at the edge;
- Security and privacy in edge computing;
- Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies for edge computing;
- 5G/6G-enabled edge computing architectures;
- Network slicing and QoS management for edge applications;
- Edge computing in UAV and vehicular networks;
- Adaptive and context-aware AI in edge computing;
- Federated learning in edge environments;
- Real-world applications of edge computing;
- Future directions and emerging trends in edge computing.
Prof. Dr. Vitor Barbosa Souza
Dr. Jordi García-Almiñana
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- cloud/edge platforms
- distributed systems
- security/privacy at the edge
- resource orchestration
- AI and machine learning at the edge
- real-time data processing
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