Objectives

Requirements identification, prioritization and elicitation; specification of the VOStack layers; specification of the VO templates and interfaces; conceptualization of the architectural approach; design of the synergetic meta-orchestration framework; development and integration of the various mechanisms, following a continuous integration and delivery approach.

Release of the NEPHELE architectural approach; interoperability with main existing semantic models (more than 5); support of multiple communication protocols (more than 5); interoperability with intelligent IoT devices and IoT platforms; interoperability with emerging cloud and edge computing orchestration platforms (e.g., openVolcano (developed by CNIT), KubeEdge, K3s); evaluation and validation in more than 6 vertical industries’ domains.

The NEPHELE architectural approach combines a higher-level meta-orchestration system for managing hyper-distributed applications over the compute continuum with the provision of a software stack for managing convergence aspects of IoT technologies. It supports the integration of smart IoT technologies with edge/cloud computing orchestration technologies considering the continuum from IoT-toedge-to-cloud, while it also enables cloud and edge computing orchestrations by bringing computation, data and intelligence closer to where the data is produced. By providing also a novel open-source development environment for hyper-distributed applications, it is going to increase European autonomy in data processing to support future hyper-distributed applications.

Development of the functionalities in the various layers of VOStack; specification and development of a set of VOs and composite VOs based on VOStack; development of interfaces for interaction with the synergetic orchestration mechanisms.

Release of VOStack; development of a set of utilities per VOStack layer; development of VO templates (more than 15) based on VOStack.

The released software stack is going to support IoT technologies convergence and interoperability by providing a wide range of virtualized functions at the edge part of the continuum in a device-independent way. The adoption of VOStack is going to lead to a next generation of Internet-enabled automation concepts virtualizing computing and networking functions at the edge, supporting AI training and inference, digital twinning of underlying objects and advanced monitoring to improve end-to-end response time, to optimise the CO2 footprint and benefit from the use of renewable energy sources. VOStack will also support the management of ad-hoc clouds based on a set of autonomic functionalities and reactive networking technologies, while time-triggered IoT functions will be supported taking advantage of time-sensitive networking and 5G technologies.

Development of the hyper-distributed applications development environment, having as a basis existing open-source IDEs provided by ECLIPSE; development of a repository for hosting hyper-distributed application components, VOs and generic functions; development of a set of application graphs in the use cases.

Release of the NEPHELE development environment for hyper-distributed applications; release of the open-source software repository; population of the repository with at least 10 application graphs, 20 VOs and 10 generic functions.

The release of the hyper-distributed applications development ecosystem will support the development, reuse and extensibility of future hyper-distributed applications by building open platforms and an open edge ecosystem including business models, driven by European actors.

Development of the synergetic orchestration framework and a set of mechanisms able to provide a breakdown of high-level goals (e.g., energy efficiency) to responsibilities at global and local level (e.g., dynamic scaling features at the edge managed by an edge computing cluster manager).

Release of the meta-orchestrator; release of the federated compute resources manager, the compute continuum network manager, a set (at least 5) of AI-assisted orchestration mechanisms and (more than 4) cybersecurity and trust management mechanisms.

The NEPHELE synergetic meta-orchestration framework is going to enable cloud and edge computing orchestrations of hyper-distributed applications, supporting their deployment over distributed resources and bringing computation, data and intelligence closer to where the data is produced (sensors and devices). By supporting a set of cybersecurity and trust management mechanisms, it can achieve trust in the proposed synergetic orchestration mechanisms by multiple compute cluster and network managers. Openness and release of open-source components will be promoted, facilitating its adoption among actors in diverse industrial ecosystems

Design, implementation and evaluation of the 4 NEPHELE use cases; implementation of VOs and generic/supportive functions through the open calls; design, implementation and evaluation of 8 use cases through the open calls in further vertical industries than the ones tackled by the consortium members.

Implementation of more than 12 use cases; applications in more than 10 vertical industries; development of more than 10 new generic/supportive functions (including FIWARE IoT enablers); more than 300 persons taught/shown the NEPHELE results of the use cases.

Through the set of validation, evaluation and demonstration activities in NEPHELE, a wide set of demonstrators will be realised in key industrial and societal applications, which are expected to require more power at the edge.