Containerized Device Lifecycle Management in Power Grid IoT Deployments

Abstract

Power grid IoT deployments routinely involve tens of thousands of heterogeneous field devices distributed across transmission and distribution networks. In practice, software heterogeneity and firmware fragmentation are more problematic than connectivity itself. We describe an operational platform that treats field applications as lightweight container instances bound to device capability profiles. The platform separates device registration, runtime orchestration, and remote update scheduling into distinct control planes. Notably, OTA updates are version-aware and staged according to electrical topology constraints, preventing simultaneous restart of adjacent substations. Field deployment over a six-month pilot demonstrated reduced rollback events and shorter maintenance windows compared with conventional monolithic upgrade procedures. The experience suggests that container abstraction is viable even in constrained embedded grid environments when orchestration logic is topology-aware.