Devices are also capable of handling some actions by themselves. This could either be a simple decision: for example, if the moisture level of the soil is below 50%, open the water valve for a minute and check the moisture level again after five minutes.

Alternatively, it can be a complex task: for example, determining whether an object detected by the camera of an autonomous car is a person waiting to cross the street or a tree.

Devices that have to process these kinds of analyses cannot always rely on a network or an application for information or assistance. What if one of them is out of service? This could cause an accident.

Therefore, such devices are provided with a different type of capability called edge computing, which is the capability of processing analytics at the very edge of the solution: the device itself. Basically, edge computing allows the device to perform some actions and calculations "offline," without an active connection to a network.

When selecting the device or devices that will be part of your IoT solution, the best method is to ensure that all capabilities are present in the device.

Since there is a very high number of devices in an IoT network, exceeding capabilities can lead to different problems related to cost, power supply, connection protocol, user experience or even solution complexity.