Survey of applications, challenges and opportunities in fog computing

Purpose Fog computing is a new field of research and has emerged as a complement to the cloud which can mitigate the problems inherent to the cloud computing model such as unreliable latency, bandwidth constraints, security and mobility. This paper aims to provide detailed survey in the field of fog computing covering the current state-of-the-art in fog computing. Design/methodology/approach Cloud was developed for IT and not for Internet of Things (IoT); as a result, cloud is unable to meet the computing, storage, control and networking demands of the IoT applications. Fog is a companion for the cloud and aims to extend the cloud capabilities to the edge of the network. Findings Lack of survey papers in the area of fog computing was an important motivational factor for writing this paper. This paper highlights the capabilities of the fog computing and where it fits in between IoT and cloud. This paper has also presented architecture of the fog computing model and its characteristics. Finally, the challenges in the field of fog computing have been discussed in detail which need to be overcome to realize its full potential. Originality/value This paper presents the current state-of-the-art in fog computing. Lack of such papers increases the importance of this paper. It also includes challenges and opportunities in the fog computing and various possible solutions to overcome those challenges.