## 1 Introduction
Static and dynamic load balancing methods effectively distribute computing tasks among edge data centers or nodes. Static load balancing methods include Round-robin, minimal combination, and weighted round-robin, and dynamic methods include predictive load balancing and machine learning-based methods to allocate resources in real time. Edge computing security systems, therefore, employ a variety of techniques to protect against cyberattacks and ensure secure data transfer between the nodes [6]. Furthermore, the collaborative computing environment is dynamic, requiring nodes to authenticate one another to maintain the security and privacy of both data and computation. Additionally, newly formed nodes must be verified and authenticated, necessitating end-to-end security across a multihop network. Traditional security mechanisms, like cryptography and secure authentication methods originally designed for cloud and high-performance computing environments, are often unsuitable for edge-based deployment. This necessitates the development of lightweight, adaptive, and secure authentication solutions that align with the unique constraints and requirements of edge computing. With the rise of 5G networks and AI-driven automation, edge computing is expected to play a crucial role in the future digital transformation. Edge computing in resource-constrained collaborative environments demands a lightweight security solution to ensure secure data transmission over untrusted multihop networks. Geographically distributed edge nodes from diverse origins must be verified, and cryptographic authentication protocols play a crucial role in securely authenticating these nodes before task offloading and computation. Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) are proposed as a security primitive for a low-power authentication protocol that delivers security against side-channel attacks and data breaches and ensures the integrity of the system [7]. Various PUF architectures are employed that help to develop robust authentication systems for both device and data security for edge computing without the need for explicit key storage. PUF is a hardware security primitive that enables embedded security, incorporating security-by-design(SbD) principles for making security an integral part of the system [8]. PUFs are resistant to cloning. They can generate cryptographic keys on-the-fly, which means sensitive information does not need to be stored in memory [9].While aiming to develop secure and sustainable solutions that are also scalable, it is essential to prioritize energy efficiency and ensure compatibility with resource-constrained environments. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents the novel contributions of the current research. Section 3 provides an in-depth discussion of the state-of-the-art literature related to the research domain. Section 4 explores the security and privacy considerations in edge computing frameworks, with particular emphasis on key challenges and their corresponding mitigation strategies. Section 5 introduces the proposed feature-based authentication process utilizing PUFs. Section 6 describes the experimental setup for implementing the proposed method and presents the results along with a comprehensive analysis. Finally, Section 7 concludes the paper and outlines directions for future research.