Bellavista, P.; Di Modica, G. IoTwins: Implementing Distributed and Hybrid Digital Twins in Industrial Manufacturing and Facility Management Settings. Future Internet2024, 16, 65.
Bellavista, P.; Di Modica, G. IoTwins: Implementing Distributed and Hybrid Digital Twins in Industrial Manufacturing and Facility Management Settings. Future Internet 2024, 16, 65.
Bellavista, P.; Di Modica, G. IoTwins: Implementing Distributed and Hybrid Digital Twins in Industrial Manufacturing and Facility Management Settings. Future Internet2024, 16, 65.
Bellavista, P.; Di Modica, G. IoTwins: Implementing Distributed and Hybrid Digital Twins in Industrial Manufacturing and Facility Management Settings. Future Internet 2024, 16, 65.
Abstract
A Digital Twin (DT) refers to a virtual representation or digital replica of a physical object, system, process, or entity. This concept involves creating a detailed, real-time digital counterpart that mimics the behavior, characteristics, and attributes of its physical counterpart. DTs have the potential to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance decision-making by providing a detailed, real-time understanding of the physical systems they represent. While this technology is finding application in numerous fields, such as energy, healthcare, transportation, it appears to be a key component of the digital transformation of industries. In this paper, we present the research results achieved by IoTwins, a European research project aimed at investigating opportunities and issues of adopting DTs in the fields of industrial manufacturing and facility management. Particularly, we discuss a DT model and a reference architecture for use by the research community to implement a platform for the development and deployment of industrial DTs in the cloud continuum. Guided by the devised architectures’ principles, we implemented an open platform and a development methodology to help companies build DT-based industrial applications and deploy them in the so-called Edge/Cloud continuum. To prove the research value and the usability of the implemented platform, we discuss a simple yet practical development use case.
Keywords
Digital Twins; Industry 4.0, IoT; IIoT; RAMI 4.0; Orchestration; TOSCA; Cloud continuum; Edge; Predictive maintenance
Subject
Computer Science and Mathematics, Computer Networks and Communications
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
