Digital Twin: Enabling Technologies, Challenges and Open Research

TLDR

Digital Twin technology, which seamlessly integrates data between physical and virtual systems, has become a focal point of industry and academia, propelled by Industry 4.0 advancements. The paper evaluates the challenges, applications, and enabling technologies—especially AI and IoT—associated with Digital Twins, outlining open research directions. A categorical literature review classifies recent Digital Twin studies by domain (manufacturing, healthcare, smart cities) to illustrate the current research landscape.

Abstract

Digital Twin technology is an emerging concept that has become the centre of attention for industry and, in more recent years, academia. The advancements in industry 4.0 concepts have facilitated its growth, particularly in the manufacturing industry. The Digital Twin is defined extensively but is best described as the effortless integration of data between a physical and virtual machine in either direction. The challenges, applications, and enabling technologies for Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and Digital Twins are presented. A review of publications relating to Digital Twins is performed, producing a categorical review of recent papers. The review has categorised them by research areas: manufacturing, healthcare and smart cities, discussing a range of papers that reflect these areas and the current state of research. The paper provides an assessment of the enabling technologies, challenges and open research for Digital Twins.