Performance Evaluation of Containerization Platforms for Control and Monitoring Devices

Containerization platforms such as Docker are now common practice in the IT industry and are frequently used in combination with virtual machines in cloud-scenarios. Using containerization platforms for embedded control and monitoring devices has so far been much less common. However, the advantages such as increased modularization and portability are of relevance for embedded control devices as well. On the other hand, embedded control devices are often characterized by a limited amount of computational resources and may face other constraints such as requirements on low power consumption. This paper presents first steps on estimating the resource needs for different containerization platforms. We present empirical work on resource consumption of containerization platforms for a Raspberry Pi-based control and monitoring device and look at CPU load, memory usage and power consumption.