Collaborative Edge Computing for Social Internet of Things: Applications, Solutions, and Challenges

The paradigm of Internet of Things (IoT) has attracted much attention in both academia and industry areas in the past decades. Recently, the integration of IoT and social networks is advocated to promote further development. This article focuses on the applications, solutions, and challenges of Social Internet of Things (SIoT) over collaborative edge computing, which exploits the advantages of both mobile edge computing and social relationships among SIoT users. First, applications of collaborative offloading, caching, and streaming data processing are illustrated, followed by representative social-aware solutions, including auction, coalition game, and federated learning. Finally, several research challenges are described. The main contributions of this article are as follows: 1) we specify the role of social ties in traditional applications of IoT and its impacts on individual's selection; 2) we elaborate the reasons why the presented three approaches can be applied in SIoT; and 3) the discussed challenges can contribute to the future development of secure, robust, and intelligent SIoT frameworks.