In edge computing, managing time series blob data efficiently is critical for performance-sensitive applications. This blog post will compare ReductStore, a specialized time series database for unstructured data, and MongoDB, a widely-used NoSQL database.

Using Docker containers for straightforward setup, we'll examine the speed of each system. We'll go through setting up ReductStore buckets and preparing MongoDB collections, focusing on how to effectively store and access blob data for time series scenarios.

By conducting performance tests on binary data insertion and retrieval, we aim to provide insights into which system might best serve your application's needs.

For those interested in replicating our benchmarks or conducting their own evaluations, we've made our methods easily accessible through this repository.

TimescaleDB is an open-source time-series database optimized for fast ingest and complex queries. It is engineered up from PostgreSQL and offers the power, reliability, and ease-of-use of a relational database, combined with the scalability typically seen in NoSQL systems. It is particularly suited for storing and analyzing things that happen over time, such as metrics, events, and real-time analytics.

Since TimescaleDB is based on PostgreSQL, it supports blob data and can be used to store a history of unstructured data such as images, binary sensor data, or large text documents. In this article, we will use the database as a time-series blob storage and compare its performance with ReductStore, which is designed specifically for this use case.

TimescaleDB and ReductStore both have Python Client SDKs. We'll create simple Python functions to read and write data, then compare performance with different blob sizes. To repeat these benchmarks on your own machine, use this repository.

The Robot Operating System (ROS) stands as a versatile framework for developing sophisticated robotic applications with various sensors, including cameras. These cameras are relatively inexpensive and widely used as they can provide a wealth of information about the robot's environment.

Processing camera output with computer vision requires efficient solutions to handle massive amounts of data in real time. ROS 2 is designed with this in mind, but it is a communication middleware and does not provide a built-in solution for storing and managing large volumes of image data.

Addressing this challenge, this blog post will guide you through setting up ROS 2 with ReductStore—a time-series database for unstructured data optimized for edge computing, ensuring your robotic applications can process and store camera outputs effectively.

This blog post will focus specifically on image data, but if you are interested in a more general overview you can read How to Store and Manage Robotic Data.