[Paper Review] Edge computing for cyber-physical systems: A systematic mapping study emphasizing trustworthiness

José Manuel Gaspar Sánchez, Nils Jörgensen+7 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Nov 26, 2021

IoT and Edge/Fog Computing50 references4 citations

TL;DR

This systematic mapping study investigates edge computing's role in cyber-physical systems (CPS), emphasizing trustworthiness attributes like safety, security, and predictability. Analyzing 224 papers, it reveals that trustworthiness is underexplored despite its critical importance for real-world CPS applications, highlighting a key research gap and calling for integrated, experimental, and sustainable approaches in future work.

ABSTRACT

Edge computing is projected to have profound implications in the coming decades, proposed to provide solutions for applications such as augmented reality, predictive functionalities, and collaborative Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). For such applications, edge computing addresses the new computational needs, as well as privacy, availability, and real-time constraints, by providing local high-performance computing capabilities to deal with the limitations and constraints of cloud and embedded systems. Our interests lie in the applications of edge computing as part of CPS, where several properties (or attributes) of trustworthiness, including safety, security, and predictability/availability are of particular concern, each facing challenges for the introduction of edge-based CPS. We present the results of a systematic mapping study, a kind of systematic literature survey, investigating the use of edge computing for CPS with a special emphasis on trustworthiness. The main contributions of this study are a detailed description of the current research efforts in edge-based CPS and the identification and discussion of trends and research gaps. The results show that the main body of research in edge-based CPS only to a very limited extent consider key attributes of system trustworthiness, despite many efforts referring to critical CPS and applications like intelligent transportation. More research and industrial efforts will be needed on aspects of trustworthiness of future edge-based CPS including their experimental evaluation. Such research needs to consider the multiple interrelated attributes of trustworthiness including safety, security, and predictability, and new methodologies and architectures to address them. It is further important to provide bridges and collaboration between edge computing and CPS disciplines.

Motivation & Objective

• To understand the current state of research on edge computing in cyber-physical systems (CPS), particularly in relation to trustworthiness.
• To identify research gaps in how key trustworthiness attributes—safety, security, predictability, and availability—are addressed in edge-based CPS.
• To guide future research by analyzing trends, methodological shortcomings, and the need for cross-disciplinary collaboration between CPS and edge computing communities.
• To advocate for stronger experimental validation, sustainability integration, and architectural frameworks in edge-CPS development.
• To recommend expanding trustworthiness dimensions to include transparency, accountability, and resilience in future studies.

Proposed method

• Conducted a systematic literature review using predefined search criteria across academic databases to identify relevant papers on edge computing and CPS.
• Screened and analyzed 224 papers based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, focusing on edge computing applications in CPS with trustworthiness as a central theme.
• Classified papers by research focus, trustworthiness attributes, application domains, and methodological approaches (e.g., simulation, prototype, experimental evaluation).
• Mapped trends in research topics, technologies used (e.g., MEC, fog computing, cloudlets), and the extent to which trustworthiness was addressed.
• Identified recurring methodological limitations, such as lack of real-world testing and insufficient attention to sustainability and cross-domain integration.
• Proposed future research directions through thematic synthesis, including architectural frameworks, testbed development, and expanded trustworthiness dimensions.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How is edge computing currently applied in cyber-physical systems, and what are the dominant application domains?
• RQ2 To what extent do existing studies address key trustworthiness attributes such as safety, security, and predictability in edge-based CPS?
• RQ3 What are the methodological gaps in current research, particularly regarding experimental validation and real-world deployment?
• RQ4 How can sustainability and circular economy principles be better integrated into the design of edge-based CPS?
• RQ5 What are the key challenges in integrating edge computing with CPS, and how can collaboration between communities be improved?

Key findings

• Only a limited number of studies on edge-based CPS address core trustworthiness attributes such as safety, security, and predictability, despite their critical importance in real-world applications.
• There is a significant lack of experimental evaluation and real-world testbeds, with most research relying on simulations or theoretical models.
• The integration of sustainability principles, such as energy efficiency and circular economy concepts, is largely overlooked in current edge-CPS research.
• Research is fragmented across domains, with insufficient collaboration between edge computing and CPS communities, hindering the development of unified architectural frameworks.
• Trustworthiness dimensions such as transparency, accountability, and resilience are underexplored and require deeper investigation in future work.
• The study identifies a need for standardized reference architectures and increased use of industrial collaboration, including patent analysis, to bridge research and practice.