A Requirements Driven Digital Twin Framework: Specification and Opportunities

Efe C. Balta,Kira Barton,Yassine Qamsane,Dawn M. Tilbury,John Faris,James Moyne,Ilya Kovalenko

doi:10.1109/access.2020.3000437

Abstract

Among the tenets of Smart Manufacturing (SM) or Industry 4.0 (I4.0), digital twin (DT), which represents the capabilities of virtual representations of components and systems, has been cited as the biggest technology trend disrupting engineering and design today. DTs have been in use for years in areas such as model-based process control and predictive maintenance, however moving forward a framework is needed that will support the expected pervasiveness of DT technology in the evolution of SM or I4.0. A set of requirements for a DT framework has been derived from analysis of DT definitions, DTs in use today, expected DT applications in the near future, and longer-term DT trends and the DT vision in SM. These requirements include elements of re-usability, interoperability, interchangeability, maintainability, extensibility, and autonomy across the entire DT lifecycle. A baseline framework for DT technology has been developed that addresses many aspects of these requirements and enables the addressing of the requirements more fully through additional specification. The baseline framework includes a definition of a DT and an object-oriented (O-O) architecture for DTs that defines generalization, aggregation and instantiation of DT classes. Case studies using and extending the baseline framework illustrate its advantages in supporting DT solutions and trends in SM.

Highlights

The evolution of manufacturing during the new smart manufacturing (SM) or Industrie 4.0 era is really part of a continuum that has existed for many decades punctuated by greater integration, vertically and horizontally, across the manufacturing ecosystem; big data trends in the ‘‘5 ‘V’ areas of volume, velocity, veracity, variety, and value; more distributed and coordinated intelligence especially using internet technology; and improvements in capabilities and use of virtual representations of components and systems [1]–[5]
digital twin (DT) are defined in [8] as software representations of components, assets, systems, and processes that are used to understand, predict, and optimize performance in order to achieve improved business outcomes. Considering this DT definition it can be argued that solutions in use today such as model-based process control (MBPC) and predictive maintenance (PdM) use DT technology [9]–[12], with the DT clients or users of the DT capability ranging from low level equipment, components and processes up through high level manufacturing execution systems (MESs) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
This paper proposes a baseline framework for DT technology that leverages the knowledge gained from the development of existing DT solutions and incorporates the requirements placed on DT technology by SM trends and the ultimate DT vision

Summary

A Requirements Driven Digital Twin Framework

JAMES MOYNE , (Member, IEEE), YASSINE QAMSANE , EFE C. BALTA , (Graduate Student Member, IEEE), ILYA KOVALENKO , (Graduate Student Member, IEEE), JOHN FARIS, KIRA BARTON , (Member, IEEE), AND DAWN M.

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

DTS OF THE FUTURE

APPLYING THE REQUIREMENTS TO REALIZE A DIGITAL TWIN FRAMEWORK

MAPPING OF REQUIREMENTS TO BASELINE DT FRAMEWORK CAPABILITIES

CASE STUDIES AND EXTENSIONS

CASE STUDY

EXTENSION