Towards serverless edge computing in low-earth orbit satellite networks

Sixth-generation mobile networks will be defined by the integration of edge computing and non-terrestrial low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks. This work addresses their intersection, with a focus on serverless software platforms that abstract from the unique challenges of managing application services on the LEO edge. We give an overview of the state-of-the-art and recent developments in serverless edge computing and satellite networks and motivate the need for research on LEO edge software. As our first contribution, we introduce, we introduce an approach for cost-efficient virtual LEO edge software system testbeds that allow students, researchers, and practitioners to explore the characteristics of LEO edge computing. In case studies of typical edge applications on this testbed, we show opportunities of LEO edge computing and how current edge software orchestration approaches fail to meet its demands. We then present novel serverless approaches to managing compute services and data replication on the edge and the edge-to-cloud continuum. We first introduce a lightweight serverless compute runtime based on the principles of Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) that efficiently multiplexes between services of different tenants on constrained hardware. Second, we introduce a serverless edge-to-cloud data management and replication middleware that exposes control over data replication to applications, lowering the barrier of entry to building stateful distributed edge-to-cloud software. As our last contribution, we combine our building blocks into a serverless edge application platform that supports stateful functions on the edge-to-cloud continuum. Finally, we extend this platform with scheduling strategies for the LEO edge into a LEO edge serverless application platform, which we evaluate extensively with LEO edge applications.