Lightweight Concurrency With Go For RealTime Edge Computing InIot Systems: A Review

Abstract

Edge computing pushes computation closer to data
sources to reduce latency, preserve bandwidth, and
enhance privacy in Internet of Things (IoT)
deployments. Go (Golang) provides lightweight
concurrency via goroutines and channels, plus a
modern scheduler a nd concurrent garbage collector.
This review synthesizes how Go’s concurrency model
maps to soft real time constraints typical at the edge.
We summarize definitions and requirements from
standards (e.g., NIST, ETSI MEC), explain the Go
runtime (asynchronou s preemption, memory model,
GC), and curate patterns for streaming pipelines,
backpressure, and resilience. We examine protocol
choices (MQTT, CoAP) and edge to cloud bridges
(gRPC/NATS), survey embedded options (TinyGo,
periph.io, Gobot), and outline obse rvability and tuning
(pprof, runtime/trace, PGO). Analytical modeling and
experience reports indicate that careful design
bounded queues, reduced allocations, and context
timeouts achieves predictable soft real time behavior.
We conclude with open challeng es (determinism, safety
cases, eBPF fast paths, io_uring integration) and a
research agenda for Go at the edge.