The Internet of Things (IoT) has become one of the most widely research paradigms, having received much attention from the research community in the last few years. IoT is the paradigm that creates an internet-connected world, where all the everyday objects capture data from our environment and adapt it to our needs. However, the implementation of IoT is a challenging task and all the implementation scenarios require the use of different technologies and the emergence of new ones, such as Edge Computing (EC). EC allows for more secure and efficient data processing in real time, achieving better performance and results. Energy efficiency is one of the most interesting IoT scenarios. In this scenario sensors, actuators and smart devices interact to generate a large volume of data associated with energy consumption. This work proposes the use of an Edge-IoT platform and a Social Computing framework to build a system aimed to smart energy efficiency in a public building scenario. The system has been evaluated in a public building and the results make evident the notable benefits that come from applying Edge Computing to both energy efficiency scenarios and the framework itself. Those benefits included reduced data transfer from the IoT-Edge to the Cloud and reduced Cloud, computing and network resource costs.

Context: Smart Energy is a disruptive concept that has led to the emergence of new energy policies, technology projects, and business models. The development of those models is driven by world capitals, companies, and universities. Their purpose is to make the electric power system more efficient through distributed energy generation/storage, smart meter installation, or reduction of consumption/implementation costs. This work approaches Smart Energy as a paradigm that is concerned with systemic strategies involving the implementation of innovative technological developments in energy systems. However, many of the challenges encountered under this paradigm are yet to be overcome, such as the effective integration of solutions within Smart Energy systems. Edge Computing is included in this new technology group. Objective: To investigate developments that involve the use of Edge Computing and that provide solutions to Smart Energy problems. The research work will be developed using the methodology of systematic mapping of literature, following the guidelines established by Kitchenham and Petersen that facilitate the identification of studies published on the subject. Results: Inclusion and exclusion criteria have been applied to identify the relevant articles. We selected 80 papers that were classified according to the type of publication (journal, conferences, or book chapter), type of research (conceptual, experience, or validation), type of activity (implement, validate, analyze) and asset (architecture, framework, method, or models). Conclusion: A complete review has been conducted of the 80 articles that were closely related to the questions posed in this research. To reach the goal of building Edge Computing architectures for Smart Energy environments, several lines of research have been defined. In the future, such architectures will overcome current problems, becoming highly energy-efficient, cost-effective, and capacitated to process and respond in real-time.

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm allows the interconnection of millions of sensor devices gathering information and forwarding to the Cloud, where data is stored and processed to infer knowledge and perform analysis and predictions. Cloud service providers charge users based on the computing and storage resources used in the Cloud. In this regard, Edge Computing can be used to reduce these costs. In Edge Computing scenarios, data is pre-processed and filtered in network edge before being sent to the Cloud, resulting in shorter response times and providing a certain service level even if the link between IoT devices and Cloud is interrupted. Moreover, there is a growing trend to share physical network resources and costs through Network Function Virtualization (NFV) architectures. In this sense, and related to NFV, Software-Defined Networks (SDNs) are used to reconfigure the network dynamically according to the necessities during time. For this purpose, Machine Learning mechanisms, such as Deep Reinforcement Learning techniques, can be employed to manage virtual data flows in networks. In this work, we propose the evolution of an existing Edge-IoT architecture to a new improved version in which SDN/NFV are used over the Edge-IoT capabilities. The proposed new architecture contemplates the use of Deep Reinforcement Learning techniques for the implementation of the SDN controller.