Container OS

The Container OS is the standardized electromechanical platform inside every ISO 20ft shipping container. It provides power, thermal management, sensing, control, communications, and safety — regardless of what the container is used for. Think of it as the operating system for physical infrastructure.

// The full stack, from steel shell to fleet management Fleet Platform // dashboards, alerts, OTA updates Comms Layer // MQTT, VPN, cellular, mesh Payload // servers, crops, machines, beds, batteries Application Cassettes // E1-E6, F1-F7: domain-specific Base Cassettes // A: Power B: Control C: Thermal D: Comms Backplane // power bus, data bus, safety bus, fluid bus Steel Shell // ISO container, insulation, structure

The payload team never thinks about power distribution, sensors, or control logic. They get clean power, a climate-controlled environment, a standardized data interface, and safety systems that work without their involvement.

Base Cassettes

Four cassettes are always present in every container. They mount on the back-wall vertical rack and connect via blind-mate connectors to the backplane.

A Power Distribution

The heart and arteries. Takes external power (shore, generator, solar) and distributes clean 380VDC to every other cassette via the backplane busbar.

Bus: 380VDC bipolar (ETSI EN 300 132-3)
Breaker: 63A / 125A / 250A / 630A (per profile)
Features: ATS, SPD Type 2, smart contactors, per-branch CTs
Form: 2x width (1200mm), Row 1 (bottom)

B Control & Edge Compute

The brain and nerves. Beckhoff TwinCAT PLC running HVAC PID loops, safety interlocks, and load shedding at <100µs cycle time. Edge computer handles data logging, MQTT, dashboards, and ML inference.

PLC: Beckhoff CX-series + TwinSAFE SIL 2
Bus: EtherCAT (<100µs cycle)
HMI: 7" touchscreen IP65
Form: 1x width (600mm), Row 3 (top)

C HVAC Indoor Unit

The lungs. Tiered cooling: passive thermosiphon first, economizer second, VFD-driven compressor only when needed. R1234ze refrigerant (GWP=1). Compressor is roof-mounted with the condenser.

Tier 1: Thermosiphon (0W, passive)
Tier 2: Economizer (200W, damper + fan)
Tier 3: Compressor (2-8kW, VFD scroll)
Form: 2x width (1200mm), Row 2 (middle)

D Communications

The voice. Multi-WAN gateway (4G/5G + Starlink), managed switch, independent LoRa watchdog, GPS for fleet tracking. All telemetry via MQTT Sparkplug B over WireGuard VPN.

WAN: 4G/5G + satellite (dual-path)
Protocol: MQTT Sparkplug B
Security: IEC 62443, WireGuard VPN
Form: 1x width (600mm), Row 3 (top)

Application Cassettes

Slots E and F carry domain-specific hardware. They use the same form factor and backplane connectors as base cassettes, swapped per application profile.

E Domain (Application)

Application-specific primary hardware. Varies by profile.

E1: Secondary power distribution
E2: Horticultural LED drivers (12ch)
E3: Battery BMS interface
E4: Plumbing (water heater, valves)
E5: Compressed air (5.5kW)
E6: Medical gas (O2, vacuum, air)

F Domain (Support)

Application-specific support systems.

F1: Liquid cooling CDU (200kW)
F2: Hydroponics (4ch dosing, EC/pH)
F3: UPS/LFP battery (10-50kWh)
F4: High-amp payload power outlets
F5: Life safety (sprinkler, CO)
F6: Gas delivery (lab/pharma)
F7: Battery pack (off-grid)

Backplane

The backbone running behind all cassettes on the back wall. Every cassette connects via a two-stage docking system: tapered guide pins for coarse alignment (35mm capture), then floating blind-mate connectors for electrical contact.

Bus	Purpose	Spec
380VDC power	Main power distribution to all cassettes	Copper busbar, 400A max, 0.2mΩ
24VDC control	Powers all cassette electronics	Redundant, UPS-backed
Ethernet (2x)	Data backbone	RJ45, managed switch
RS-485	Field bus for sensors	Modbus RTU, A/B/GND
Safety contacts	Hardwired interlocks	E-stop, fire, gas (dry contact)
Refrigerant	HVAC loop (Cassette C only)	R1234ze, quick-connect
Condensate	Drain to exterior	Gravity drain

Visualization Layers

Toggle these in the 3D view to see the invisible systems inside the container. Multiple layers can be active simultaneously. The shell auto-transparents when any layer is active.

Cables Cable Routing

Three segregated cable tray zones running along the service wall, color-coded by circuit type. Zone A (blue, top) carries data and signal cables — Ethernet, fiber, RS-485, sensor wiring. Zone B (yellow, middle) carries control cables — 24VDC, relay wiring, safety loop, 4-20mA analog. Zone C (red, bottom) carries power cables — mains, VFD output, 3-phase motor feeds. Separation gaps of 150mm (A-B) and 200mm (B-C) prevent electromagnetic coupling per IEC/NEC rules. Drop-down runs connect the trays to the backplane.

EMI EMI Exclusion Zones

Translucent red volumes showing electromagnetic interference boundaries. The largest zone (300mm) surrounds the VFD in Cassette C — the biggest noise source in the container. A smaller zone (200mm) surrounds Zone C power cables. Inside Cassette C, a steel sub-enclosure provides -20dB shielding, combined with an output filter (-15dB on switching frequencies) and a line reactor with passive harmonic trap (-12dB on 5th/7th/11th harmonics). Worst validated margin: +1.7dB at 350Hz 7th harmonic (BESS profile).

Airflow Airflow Visualization

Animated particle streams showing air circulation paths. Blue particles (supply air, cool) flow from the HVAC cassette along the floor toward the door end. Orange particles (return air, warm) flow along the ceiling back to the HVAC return intake. Red particles (condenser exhaust) rise from the rooftop condenser unit. Arrows indicate flow direction. Particle speed correlates with fan RPM and particle color correlates with temperature.

Refrigerant Refrigerant Circuit

The R1234ze (GWP=1) refrigerant loop between the indoor HVAC cassette and the rooftop condenser/compressor unit. The suction line (orange tube) carries warm gas from the evaporator up through the container wall to the roof compressor. The liquid line (blue tube) returns cool liquid from the condenser back to the expansion valve. Animated particles show flow direction. Pressure labels show high-side (12 bar) and low-side (3 bar) readings.

Power Flow Power Flow Animation

Golden particles flowing along the 380VDC busbars behind the backplane panel. Power enters from the cable transit on the back wall, flows through the vertical L+/L-/PE busbars, and branches horizontally to each cassette row. Green glow lines indicate bus utilization. The entry point glows to show where external power connects. In live mode, particle brightness maps to actual current draw from branch circuit CTs.

Thermal Thermal Map

Color-graded floor and ceiling surfaces showing temperature distribution inside the container. The gradient runs from blue (18°C, near HVAC supply) through green (24°C, center) to yellow/red (28-34°C, far end and ceiling). Heat source indicators on each cassette show waste heat contribution. A color scale legend shows the temperature-to-color mapping. In live mode, vertex colors update from actual sensor readings to show real thermal distribution.

State Firmware State Machine

Shows the Container OS firmware state. Each cassette gets a status badge showing its subsystem state (active/warning/idle). The overall container state (OFF → BOOT → SELF_TEST → STANDBY → RUNNING) is shown above the rack with the current state highlighted in the flow diagram. Active subsystems pulse green. Degraded or faulted subsystems show yellow or red badges. This maps directly to the firmware state transition table from the Container OS specification.

View Modes

View	What It Shows
3D View	Default perspective. Solid shell, cassettes assembled in rack.
Exploded	Cassettes slide out toward the door. Shell goes transparent. See each cassette individually and the blind-mate connectors on the back face.
Cutaway	Top-down view with roof removed. See rack layout, busbars, and cassette arrangement from above.
Top	Overhead view with transparent shell. See the full back-wall rack layout.
Front	Door-end view. See the door opening and container proportions.
Rear	Back-wall view. See the rack face and cassette front panels as an operator would.
Side	Side profile showing the service wall depth and payload space.
Dimensions	All key dimensions annotated: 6058mm length, 2896mm height, 2438mm width, 800mm cassette depth, 1800mm rack width, 5104mm payload length, door opening.

Application Profiles

Like Docker images built FROM a base image, every container starts from the same base cassettes (A + B + C + D) and adds application-specific cassettes on top.

Profile	Cassette E	Cassette F	Power	Key Feature
Edge Data Center	E1 (extra power)	F1 (liquid CDU)	630A	200kW, liquid cooling, dual-feed
Vertical Farm	E2 (LED drivers)	F2 (hydroponics)	250A	30-40kW LED, auto-dosing
BESS	E3 (BMS interface)	F3 (UPS/LFP)	125A	100kWh, bidirectional, H2 detection
Habitation Pod	E4 (plumbing)	F5 (life safety)	63A	Kitchen, bathroom, DALI lighting
Micro-Factory	E5 (compressed air)	F4 (high-amp power)	250A	CNC, 3D print, HEPA filtration
Field Hospital	E6 (medical gas)	F3 (extended UPS)	125A	HEPA H13, O2/vacuum, IEC 60601

Controls Reference

Action	Control
Rotate	Click + drag
Zoom	Scroll wheel
Pan	Right-click + drag
Inspect cassette	Click on a cassette
Change view	Bottom toolbar buttons
Toggle layer	Layer buttons above the view toolbar
Close info panel	Click × on the panel

Digital Twin — This visualization is designed to connect to live container data via MQTT over WebSocket. When connected, the layers update from real sensor readings: airflow speed from VFD frequency, thermal map from temperature sensors, power flow from CT measurements, and firmware state from the PLC. The same physics model that powers the visualization also runs as a shadow twin for anomaly detection — comparing predicted vs actual sensor values to flag degradation before failures occur.

CONTAINER OS — GUIDE