Digital-Twins towards Cyber-Physical Systems: A Brief Survey

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) are integrations of computation and physical processes. Physical processes are monitored and controlled by embedded computers and networks, which frequently have feedback loops where physical processes affect computations and vice versa. To ease the analysis of a system, the costly physical plants can be replaced by the high-fidelity virtual models that provide a framework for Digital-Twins (DT). This paper aims to briefly review the state-of-the-art and recent developments in DT and CPS. Three main components in CPS, including communication, control, and computation, are reviewed. Besides, the main tools and methodologies required for implementing practical DT are discussed by following the main applications of DT in the fourth industrial revolution through aspects of smart manufacturing, sixth wireless generation (6G), health, production, energy, and so on. Finally, the main limitations and ideas for future remarks are talked about followed by a short guideline for real-world application of DT towards CPS

Supply chain integration in the industry 4.0 era: a systematic literature review: Integração da cadeia de suprimentos na era industrial 4.0: uma revisão sistemática da literatura

From an Industry 4.0 perspective, supply chain actors (suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, and third-party logistics operators) are integrated into a collaborative network based on information-sharing to improve the overall supply chain performance. Real data can be captured and systematically processed into information, hence dealing with uncertainty. Poor integration may lead to supply chain disruptions. This paper examines the role of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) for integrating the supply chain, to which a systematic literature review (SLR) has been applied. First, according to the research questions, the I4.0 technologies adopted for supply chain integration were identified. Second, the approaches for integrating the supply chain at I4.0 were examined and classified by strategy (vertical, horizontal, and end-to-end integration). Third, the functional and cross-functional approaches for supply chain integration at I4.0 were also examined. Finally, it was discussed which traditional SCI approaches can be upgraded to the Industry 4.0 era and the future research directions

Towards Digital Twin-enabled DevOps for CPS providing Architecture-Based Service Adaptation & Verification at Runtime

Industrial Product-Service Systems (IPSS) denote a service-oriented (SO) way of providing access to CPS capabilities. The design of such systems bears high risk due to uncertainty in requirements related to service function and behavior, operation environments, and evolving customer needs. Such risks and uncertainties are well known in the IT sector, where DevOps principles ensure continuous system improvement through reliable and frequent delivery processes. A modular and SO system architecture complements these processes to facilitate IT system adaptation and evolution. This work proposes a method to use and extend the Digital Twins (DTs) of IPSS assets for enabling the continuous optimization of CPS service delivery and the latter's adaptation to changing needs and environments. This reduces uncertainty during design and operations by assuring IPSS integrity and availability, especially for design and service adaptations at CPS runtime. The method builds on transferring IT DevOps principles to DT-enabled CPS IPSS. The chosen design approach integrates, reuses, and aligns the DT processing and communication resources with DevOps requirements derived from literature. We use these requirements to propose a DT-enabled self-adaptive CPS model, which guides the realization of DT-enabled DevOps in CPS IPSS. We further propose detailed design models for operation-critical DTs that integrate CPS closed-loop control and architecture-based CPS adaptation. This integrated approach enables the implementation of A/B testing as a use case and central concept to enable CPS IPSS service adaptation and reconfiguration. The self-adaptive CPS model and DT design concept have been validated in an evaluation environment for operation-critical CPS IPSS. The demonstrator achieved sub-millisecond cycle times during service A/B testing at runtime without causing CPS operation interferences and downtime.Comment: Final published version appearing in 17th Symposium on Software Engineering for Adaptive and Self-Managing Systems (SEAMS 2022

MAST: Mental Ambidexterity in Strategic Thinking

There are two fundamental ways to think about what strategy is. The first one is strategy as a plan of action for reaching one or several goals. The second one is strategy as discipline, a formalized body of knowledge. The latter can be understood as the set of governing ideas that guide managers in the identification of opportunities for value creation and the realization of that value. In the present article, we argue that these ideas tend to fall into two main paradigms, which come with two metaphors about managers: managers as commanders and managers as designers. We further argue that these represent two fundamental ways of thinking, which in turn become ways of ‘seeing’ and even feeling. Is one better than the other? We suggest that is not the right question to ask. Rather it is important to appreciate that these are worldviews that affect how we interpret our day-to-day reality and our ability to see opportunities. We introduce the notion of Mental Ambidexterity in Strategic Thinking (MAST) and define it as the ability to hold both views of the world—that of the commander and that of the designer— and play with them simultaneously, rather than focusing solely on one and rejecting the other. MAST is an individual level capability; it is a flexible, non-ideological and fluid mode of cognition. At the core, it is characterized by switching flexibility back and forth between rational decisionmaking among alternatives, and creation of new alternatives, between what is and what could be. We illustrate three principles – i) intellectual humility, ii) contingent thinking and iii) poke into ambiguity – that act as catalysts for individuals to develop MAST capabilities

Combining symbiotic simulation systems with enterprise data storage systems for real-time decision-making

[EN] A symbiotic simulation system (S3) enables interactions between a physical system and its computational model representation. To support operational decisions, an S3 uses real-time data from the physical system, which is gathered via sensors and saved in an enterprise data storage system (EDSS). Both real-time and historical data are then used as inputs to the different components of an S3. This paper proposes a generic system architecture for an S3 and discusses its integration within EDSSs. The paper also reviews the literature on S3 and analyses how these systems can be used for real-time decision-making.This work has been partially funded by the Staff Mobility programme from the Erasmus+ (2020-2021).Onggo, B.; Corlu, CG.; Juan, AA.; Monks, T.; Torre-Martínez, MRDL. (2021). Combining symbiotic simulation systems with enterprise data storage systems for real-time decision-making. Enterprise Information Systems. 15(2):230-247. https://doi.org/10.1080/17517575.2020.177758723024715

Digital Twins for Logistics and Supply Chain Systems: Literature Review, Conceptual Framework, Research Potential, and Practical Challenges

To facilitate an effective, efficient, transparent, and timely decision-making process as well as to provide guidelines for industry planning and public policy development, a conceptual framework of digital twins (DTs) for logistics and supply chain systems (LSCS) is needed. This paper first introduces the background of the logistics and supply chain industry, the DT and its potential benefits, and the motivations and scope of this research. The literature review indicates research and practice gaps and needs that motivate proposing a new conceptual DT framework for LSCS. As each element of the new framework has different requirements and goals, it initiates new research opportunities and creates practical implementation challenges. As such, the future of DT computation involves advanced analytics and modeling techniques to address the new agenda's requirements. Finally, ideas on the next steps to deploy a transparent, trustworthy, and resilient DT for LSCS are presented.Comment: 45 page

Quantifying and combining uncertainty for improving the behavior of Digital Twin Systems

Uncertainty is an inherent property of any complex system, especially those that integrate physical parts or operate in real environments. In this paper, we focus on the Digital Twins of adaptive systems, which are particularly complex to design, verify, and optimize. One of the problems of having two systems (the physical one and its digital replica) is that their behavior may not always be consistent. In addition, both twins are normally subject to different types of uncertainties, which complicates their comparison. In this paper we propose the explicit representation and treatment of the uncertainty of both twins, and show how this enables a more accurate comparison of their behaviors. Furthermore, this allows us to reduce the overall system uncertainty and improve its behavior by properly averaging the individual uncertainties of the two twins. An exemplary incubator system is used to illustrate and validate our proposal

Re-imagining health and well-being in low resource African settings using an augmented AI system and a 3D digital twin

In this paper, we discuss and explore the potential and relevance of recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and digital twins for health and well-being in low-resource African countries. Using an AI systems perspective, we review emerging trends in AI systems and digital twins and propose an initial augmented AI system architecture to illustrate how an AI system can work in conjunction with a 3D digital twin. We highlight scientific knowledge discovery, continual learning, pragmatic interoperability, and interactive explanation and decision-making as important research challenges for AI systems and digital twins.Comment: Submitted to Workshop on AI for Digital Twins and Cyber-physical applications at IJCAI 2023, August 19--21, 2023, Macau, S.A.

A Strategic Digital Transformation for the Water Industry

This book is a compilation of the knowledge shared and generated so far in the IWA Digital Water Programme. It is an insightful collection of white papers covering best practices, linking academic and industrial studies/insights with applications to give real-world examples of digital transformation. These White Papers are designed to help utilities, water professionals and all those interested in water management and stewardship issues to better understand the opportunities of digital technologies. This book covers a plethora of topics including: Instrumentation and data generation Artificial intelligence and digital twins The digital transformation and public health Mapping the digital transformation journey into the future With these topics, the aim is to present an all-encompassing reference for practitioners to use in their day-to-day activities. Through the Digital Water Programme, the IWA leverages its worldwide member expertise to guide a new generation of water and wastewater utilities on their digital journey towards the uptake of digital technologies and their integration into water services

Digital Twins

Progression of the field depends on convergence of information technology, operational technology and protocol-agnostic telecommunications. Making sense of the data, ability to curate data and perform data analytics at the edge (or mist rather than in the fog or cloud) is key to value. Delivering engines to the edge are crucial for analytics at the edge when latency is critical. The confluence of these and other factors may chart the future path for Digital Twins. The number of unknown unknowns and the known unknowns in this process makes it imperative to create global infrastructures and organize groups to pursue the development of fundamental building blocks and new ideas through research.Multiple forms of digital transformation are imminent. Digital Twins represent one concept. It is gaining momentum because it may offer real-time transparency. Rapid diffusion of digital duplicates faces hurdles due to lack of semantic interoperability between architectures, standards and ontologies. The technologies necessary for automated discovery are in short supply