A Survey on Digital Twin: Definitions, Characteristics, Applications, and Design Implications

Elena Casiraghi,Barbara Rita Barricelli,Daniela Fogli

doi:10.1109/access.2019.2953499

Elena Casiraghi, Barbara Rita Barricelli + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2019.2953499

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Journal: IEEE Access	Publication Date: Jan 1, 2019
Citations: 623	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Milan, University of Brescia

Abstract

When, in 1956, Artificial Intelligence (AI) was officially declared a research field, no one would have ever predicted the huge influence and impact its description, prediction, and prescription capabilities were going to have on our daily lives. In parallel to continuous advances in AI, the past decade has seen the spread of broadband and ubiquitous connectivity, (embedded) sensors collecting descriptive high dimensional data, and improvements in big data processing techniques and cloud computing. The joint usage of such technologies has led to the creation of digital twins, artificial intelligent virtual replicas of physical systems. Digital Twin (DT) technology is nowadays being developed and commercialized to optimize several manufacturing and aviation processes, while in the healthcare and medicine fields this technology is still at its early development stage. This paper presents the results of a study focused on the analysis of the state-of-the-art definitions of DT, the investigation of the main characteristics that a DT should possess, and the exploration of the domains in which DT applications are currently being developed. The design implications derived from the study are then presented: they focus on socio-technical design aspects and DT lifecycle. Open issues and challenges that require to be addressed in the future are finally discussed.

Highlights

In 1956, John McCarthy organized a summer workshop, entitled the ‘‘Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence’’, which is considered by many [1], [2] the seminal event where Artificial Intelligence (AI) was officially declared a research field
At the beginning of our study, we identified three specific research questions that led our entire research work: 1) RQ1: What are the definitions of Digital Twin that have been published in literature?
We have described some of the most interesting Digital Twin (DT) descriptions and applications that have been published in scientific literature

Summary

A Survey on Digital Twin

2, (Member, IEEE), ABSTRACT When, in 1956, Artificial Intelligence (AI) was officially declared a research field, no one would have ever predicted the huge influence and impact its description, prediction, and prescription capabilities were going to have on our daily lives. The joint usage of such technologies has led to the creation of digital twins, artificial intelligent virtual replicas of physical systems. Digital Twin (DT) technology is nowadays being developed and commercialized to optimize several manufacturing and aviation processes, while in the healthcare and medicine fields this technology is still at its early development stage. This paper presents the results of a study focused on the analysis of the stateof-the-art definitions of DT, the investigation of the main characteristics that a DT should possess, and the exploration of the domains in which DT applications are currently being developed. The design implications derived from the study are presented: they focus on socio-technical design aspects and DT lifecycle. INDEX TERMS Artificial intelligence, digital twin, human-computer interaction, Internet of Things, machine learning, sensor systems

INTRODUCTION

RESEARCH BACKGROUND

DIGITAL TWIN DEFINITIONS

DIGITAL TWIN CHARACTERISTICS

DIGITAL TWIN APPLICATION CASES

Findings

CONCLUSION