Glossary · Automation software engineering and architecture
Edge application
Also known as: Edge app
German: Edge-Anwendung
In industrial automation, an edge application is software that runs on computing resources close to machines and plants, such as industrial PCs, gateways or edge servers, to collect, process, analyze or forward data locally instead of, or before, sending it to a central data center or cloud.
- Software engineering
In one sentence
An edge application runs close to machines on gateways or edge servers, processing data locally before or instead of sending it to the cloud.
Example
An edge application on the press line's gateway calculates vibration features from 10 kHz sensor data and sends only the results and anomalies to the cloud.
How it applies
- Engineering: Edge applications reduce latency and bandwidth, keep data on site and continue working during network outages. They are often delivered as containers and managed centrally through an edge platform.
- Operation and security: Edge devices sit between OT and IT networks, so they need hardening, update management and clear network zoning according to IEC 62443. Applications should not write to control systems unless this has been designed and assessed.
- Documentation: Document the data an edge application reads and sends, its dependencies, resource needs, behavior during outages and update procedures. Customers want to know which data leaves the plant; the documentation team should make this easy to find.
Edge application vs. control software
Control software controls the process in real time. An edge application usually monitors, analyzes and forwards data; where it influences control, for example by suggesting setpoints, the interface and responsibilities must be defined carefully. AI models running at the edge also fall under the rules for AI functions if they affect machine behavior.