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Academic Journal of Computing & Information Science, 2025, 8(11); doi: 10.25236/AJCIS.2025.081108.

SlotFlow: In-Memory File-Slot Orchestration and Adaptive Backpressure Mechanism for Constrained Edge Environments

Author(s)

Jingyang Liu

Corresponding Author:
Jingyang Liu
Affiliation(s)

Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan, 411201, China

Abstract

In edge computing environments, device resources are often highly restricted. To cope with increasingly complex deep learning tasks, decomposing monolithic models into multiple collaborative microservice containers has become an effective approach to break through computing power bottlenecks. However, existing container orchestration solutions (e.g., K3s, KubeEdge) suffer from excessive control plane overhead, redundant network protocol stacks, and a lack of fine-grained flow control on the edge. Furthermore, the NAND Flash storage media widely used in edge devices face serious risks of write amplification and wear. Addressing these challenges, this paper proposes SlotFlow, a lightweight orchestration architecture based on In-Memory File-Slots. The core idea of SlotFlow is to utilize the host's tmpfs as a zero-copy communication bus, achieving microsecond-level synchronization through atomic file operations. Additionally, it introduces a backpressure mechanism based on queueing theory and control theory to effectively prevent memory overflows. Experimental results demonstrate that SlotFlow’s communication performance on a single node approaches that of Unix Domain Sockets, reducing latency by approximately 84% compared to traditional TCP loopback. Theoretically, it reduces physical Flash writes to zero. In overload scenarios, SlotFlow's backpressure mechanism reduces task queue backlog by approximately 73% and extends the system's crash-free runtime by 2.5 times compared to the control group, achieving highly robust dynamic task orchestration.

Keywords

Edge Computing; Container Orchestration; Inter-Process Communication (IPC); tmpfs; Backpressure Mechanism; Queueing Theory; Dynamic Routing; Microservice Orchestration; Zero-Copy Communication

Cite This Paper

Jingyang Liu. SlotFlow: In-Memory File-Slot Orchestration and Adaptive Backpressure Mechanism for Constrained Edge Environments. Academic Journal of Computing & Information Science (2025), Vol. 8, Issue 11: 71-78. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJCIS.2025.081108.

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