When edge nodes grow up

Yesterday we discussed how to partition functionality in hierarchical distributed systems.

In the past, it was difficult to do much at the edge nodes because they could not do much.

Resources were limited.

It was difficult to update software in them without being on-site and connecting a PC-based programmer, or before that replacing an OTP (one-time-programmable) chip.

But today things are different.

A powerful 32-bit MCU is as now as cheap as your father's 8-bit PIC and your grandfather's 8051.

It has plenty of memory for network/communication stacks, and in-system update routines.

We now have powerful operating systems like Zephyr that we can run on these edge nodes.

If we continue our analogy to human systems, when a person is young or inexperienced, we don't push a lot of responsibility on them.

However, when they grow up, we want them to do more, make decisions, and look around and do what needs done.

Modern MCU's are capable of doing a lot including running AI algorithms -- maybe it is time our edge nodes grow up.