Kubernetes On the Edge With K3s For a Smart Metering Use Case

The conference presentation discusses the design and implementation of a central data aggregation platform for a smart energy management system in South Africa, targeting big energy consumers such as office blocks, industrial factories, and the mining industry. The platform uses IoT devices to measure energy usage, estimate costs, and optimize electricity usage with automation. The presentation highlights the challenges of building a solution for companies and industrial plants located in rural areas with infrastructure limitations, intermittent internet connectivity, and power outages due to load shedding. The solution needs to be resilient, work offline, and use open-source technologies. Kubernetes is chosen for its resilience, high availability, and ability to run pods from previous states.

• South Africa is facing an energy crisis due to a limited supply of electricity, which drives up costs and impacts businesses heavily reliant on electricity
• The smart energy management system targets big energy consumers and uses IoT devices to measure energy usage, estimate costs, and optimize electricity usage with automation
• The central data aggregation platform is designed to work offline, be resilient, and use open-source technologies
• Kubernetes is chosen for its resilience, high availability, and ability to run pods from previous states
• The solution needs to be flexible, work with existing network infrastructure, and reduce setup costs
• Multiple teams are involved in building the IoT devices, gateway, IoT platform, and advanced data analytics in the cloud

In South Africa, load shedding is a common occurrence where power is routinely switched off to homes and businesses with little notice. This has a significant economic impact on businesses, especially those heavily reliant on electricity such as manufacturers and the mining industry. The smart energy management system aims to address this issue by targeting big energy consumers and using IoT devices to optimize electricity usage with automation. By switching off appliances at night when no one is using them or recommending the best time to run heavy machinery, businesses can reduce their energy spending and stay operational during power outages.

Running Kubernetes in the cloud is a common use case. You can make use of all the features that hyperscalers have to offer: resiliency, scalability, load-balancing etc. But what if you only have a single machine sitting on-premise that lacks consistent internet access? Should you still use Kubernetes? Our client has embarked on a journey to build a smart energy metering solution for remote industrial plants. The solution aggregates data produced by IoT measurement devices to a central point on site before sending the data to the cloud. The challenge for us, of course, is the design of this central aggregation point on site. This talk describes how we analysed the requirements to decide on using Kubernetes (K3s) as a central aggregation point on site. We will go through the why of the design and how we have also incorporated other CNCF projects (Prometheus, Helm, Cert-manager and Longhorn) into the final solution.