Cloud Inference Matches On-Device Performance for Real-Time Control

A new study challenges the assumption that cloud-based inference is unsuitable for latency-sensitive control tasks in cyber-physical systems (CPS). The research demonstrates that cloud platforms with high-throughput compute resources can amortize network and queueing delays, matching or surpassing on-device performance for real-time decision-making. The authors developed a formal analytical model characterizing distributed inference tradeoffs. The work appears on arXiv under identifier 2605.00005.