Ignis — Edge AI Gateway

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\title{IGNIS Edge AI Gateway: An Evidence-Aware Architecture, Prototype Evaluation, and Integration Roadmap}
\author{\IEEEauthorblockN{Aaron Singh}
\IEEEauthorblockA{\textit{Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering} \\
\textit{San Francisco State University}}}
\maketitle

\begin{abstract}
This paper presents IGNIS Edge AI Gateway, a project in a twenty-project AI infrastructure portfolio. The current repository is an active prototype with implemented behavior, automated correctness tests, and explicit boundaries around unverified hardware or production claims. We describe the system model, current implementation, goals, and evaluation method, then propose five integrations that advance the project toward reproducible system-level validation. A local audit on August 14, 2026 executed 3 project tests successfully. No accelerator, deployment, or performance conclusion is inferred unless a corresponding committed benchmark or profiler artifact exists.
\end{abstract}

\begin{IEEEkeywords}
IGNIS, AI infrastructure, reproducibility, prototype validation, systems evaluation, hardware--software co-design
\end{IEEEkeywords}

\section{Introduction}
IGNIS Edge AI Gateway (P13) addresses a bounded problem within the portfolio's track-04-robotics-edge track. Its declared status is \emph{Active Prototype} \cite{metadata}. The project validates its central mechanism before adding device-specific acceleration, production orchestration, or real-world hardware. This ordering matters because optimization without a trusted reference can make incorrect behavior appear successful.

The project goals are to establish deterministic behavior, encode correctness as tests, create machine-readable evidence, identify limiting resources through measurement, and integrate results with adjacent portfolio systems without losing provenance. The repository contains one paper named exactly after its singular folder: \texttt{P13-ignis-edge-ai-gateway.tex}.

\section{Technical Context}
Edge and robotic systems operate under resource, latency, privacy, and safety constraints. Development should progress from deterministic simulation to representative sensors, middleware, and hardware-in-the-loop validation. The portfolio benchmark standard requires environment, workload, method, metric, artifact, reproduction, and limitation fields; unknown values remain explicitly unmeasured \cite{benchmark}.

\section{System Model and Architecture}
The prototype is organized around the following domain model:
\begin{equation}
r(j)=\begin{cases}\text{edge},&\text{private}(j)\\\text{edge},&d_j\leq c_e\land L_e\leq L_j\\\text{cluster},&\text{otherwise}\end{cases}
\end{equation}
The equation is a design and test abstraction rather than a claimed empirical law. It supports invariants and expected-value checks while later implementations replace synthetic inputs with representative workloads or devices.

The software architecture contains an input/configuration layer, a deterministic core, validation and evidence output, and a local visualization. The principal inspected source artifacts are \texttt{python/gateway.py}. Unsupported real-world conditions are surfaced as limitations rather than silently simulated.

\section{Detailed Script Operation and Rationale}
The gateway validates job fields and applies explainable edge-versus-cluster routing. Privacy-sensitive jobs stay local, while size and latency constraints guide other placements. The script proves policy behavior without implying that a device, API, authentication layer, or network is connected.

The execution path is:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item Validate the incoming job schema and numeric constraints.
    \item Apply the privacy-local rule first.
    \item Check whether edge capacity and latency satisfy the job.
    \item Route remaining work to the cluster with an explanation.
    \item Return a deterministic decision suitable for API and device adapters.
\end{enumerate}

\begin{table*}[t]
\caption{Implementation artifacts and why they exist}
\label{tab:p13-implementation}
\centering
\small
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{p{0.24\textwidth}YY}
\toprule
\textbf{Artifact} & \textbf{Observed responsibility} & \textbf{Engineering rationale} \\
\midrule
python/gateway.py & Job, validate, route, main & Implements the inspectable, unit-tested project core. \\
scripts/reproduce.sh & Fixed test and demonstration entry point & Gives another developer one command for local reproduction. \\
PROJECT.yaml and ANALYSIS.md & Status, completed work, planned work, and claim boundaries & Separates declared intent from evidence-backed implementation. \\
streamlit\_app.py & Local evidence and status visualization & Makes outputs inspectable without upgrading simulation into a hardware claim. \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{table*}

\section{Implemented Prototype}
The metadata and source audit found these completed features \cite{analysis}:
\begin{itemize}
    \item Validated Python job schema
    \item Explainable edge/cluster routing
    \item Privacy-local rule and tests
\end{itemize}

On August 14, 2026, \texttt{python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -p 'test\_*.py'} completed successfully with 3 tests. The inspected test artifacts are \texttt{tests/test\_gateway.py}. This is evidence of local correctness for encoded cases, not production scale or hardware performance.

\section{Testing Methodology and Observed Results}
Testing uses Python's standard \texttt{unittest} discovery and exercises the public behavior of the reference implementation. The audit reran the suite from the project folder with \texttt{python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -p 'test\_*.py'}. All 3 discovered tests passed. The result establishes correctness only for the encoded local cases; it does not establish accelerator correctness, real-device behavior, production reliability, or benchmark completion.

\begin{table*}[t]
\caption{Audited test matrix}
\label{tab:p13-tests}
\centering
\scriptsize
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{p{0.37\textwidth}Yp{0.21\textwidth}}
\toprule
\textbf{Test artifact and case} & \textbf{Behavior being checked} & \textbf{Observed result} \\
\midrule
tests/test\_gateway.py:test\_private\_local & Private local. & Pass (local, 2026-08-14) \\
tests/test\_gateway.py:test\_large\_cluster & Large cluster. & Pass (local, 2026-08-14) \\
tests/test\_gateway.py:test\_invalid & Invalid. & Pass (local, 2026-08-14) \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{table*}

No numerical performance result is promoted by this test run. Where scripts emit JSON or JSONL, those outputs remain raw or simulation-specific until a reviewed summary includes hardware, software, workload, warm-up, repetition, correctness threshold, Git revision, and limitations.

\begin{table*}[t]
\caption{Declared status versus audited evidence}
\label{tab:p13-audit}
\centering
\small
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{p{0.20\textwidth}Yp{0.25\textwidth}}
\toprule
\textbf{Audit field} & \textbf{Finding} & \textbf{Evidence source} \\
\midrule
Declared status & Active Prototype & PROJECT.yaml \\
Evidence-backed status & Active local prototype; 3 tests passed & Source plus local unittest run \\
Accepted measured results & None recorded in measured\_results & PROJECT.yaml \\
Mismatch / claim boundary & No real edge device or network is connected & PROJECT.yaml and ANALYSIS.md \\
Next proof required & FastAPI endpoint; Retries and authentication & Planned features \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{table*}

\section{Claim Boundaries and Risks}
The project records these unverified or excluded claims:
\begin{itemize}
    \item No real edge device or network is connected
\end{itemize}
The main risk is confusing synthetic or modeled behavior with deployed-system behavior. Other risks include incomplete workloads, platform-dependent timing, missing failure injection, and interfaces not yet exercised across device boundaries. Performance claims require a reviewed record meeting the portfolio standard.

\section{Evaluation Plan}
Evaluation proceeds through correctness tests, deterministic reproduction with Git and environment metadata, repeated benchmarks reporting latency/throughput/memory/error metrics, and a named profiler capture tied to exact hardware and source revision. Success requires reference equivalence within a documented tolerance, preservation of safety and resource invariants, clear failures, and evidence reproducible from a clean environment.

\section{Goals, Milestones, and Success Criteria}
The project goals are staged so that correctness precedes performance and integration. A goal is complete only when its proof artifact is committed or otherwise reviewable; prose or a simulated number alone is insufficient.

\begin{table*}[t]
\caption{Project goals and required proof}
\label{tab:p13-goals}
\centering
\small
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{p{0.06\textwidth}YY}
\toprule
\textbf{ID} & \textbf{Goal} & \textbf{Completion evidence} \\
\midrule
G1 & FastAPI endpoint & Passing tests and a reviewed source artifact \\
G2 & Retries and authentication & Machine-readable result with reproduction metadata \\
G3 & Real device adapter & Reference-equivalence or domain-correctness report \\
G4 & Expose an authenticated retry-safe API & Named profiler, deployment, or integration artifact \\
G5 & Connect a real edge device adapter & Dashboard/report link preserving provenance and limitations \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabularx}
\end{table*}

\section{Future Work and Integrations}
The five project-specific next steps are:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item FastAPI endpoint
    \item Retries and authentication
    \item Real device adapter
    \item Add signed manifests, local buffering, and offline recovery.
    \item Integrate placement with P16 and device health with P12.
\end{enumerate}
The early items complete declared evidence; the later items connect downstream portfolio consumers. Each integration should add tests and a reviewable artifact such as JSONL evidence, a report, profiler capture, deployment manifest, trace, or labeled data set.

\section{Conclusion}
IGNIS Edge AI Gateway is an evidence-aware active prototype: its implemented behavior and tests are real, while unbuilt hardware, deployment, and performance goals remain labeled. Completing the five integrations in dependency order will advance it from a learning artifact toward a credible portfolio component.

\begin{thebibliography}{00}
\bibitem{metadata} Aaron Singh, ``IGNIS Edge AI Gateway PROJECT.yaml,'' local portfolio repository, updated 2026-08-13.
\bibitem{analysis} Aaron Singh, ``IGNIS Edge AI Gateway: README, ANALYSIS, source, and test artifacts,'' local portfolio repository, accessed Aug. 14, 2026.
\bibitem{benchmark} Aaron Singh, ``AI Infrastructure Portfolio Benchmark Standard,'' local portfolio repository, accessed Aug. 14, 2026.
\end{thebibliography}
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