Development of a digital twin operational platform using Python Flask

TLDR

Digital twin technology is increasingly used to extract value from data for high‑value engineering systems such as aircraft and wind turbines, yet most solutions are proprietary and the open‑source, network‑connected approach remains largely untapped. This paper introduces an open‑source, browser‑based digital twin operational platform built with Python Flask, designed to maximize connectivity between users, physical twin data, IoT devices, and cloud services. The platform, called DTOP‑Cristallo, employs Python Flask to provide a browser interface, integrates engineering software tools, and demonstrates connectivity between a three‑storey structure, IoT devices, users, and cloud computing services. DTOP‑Cristallo is released as a prototype that manages a three‑storey structure, illustrating the feasibility of the open‑source digital twin operational platform.

Abstract

Abstract The digital twin concept has developed as a method for extracting value from data, and is being developed as a new technique for the design and asset management of high-value engineering systems such as aircraft, energy generating plant, and wind turbines. In terms of implementation, many proprietary digital twin software solutions have been marketed in this domain. In contrast, this paper describes a recently released open-source software framework for digital twins, which provides a browser-based operational platform using Python and Flask. The new platform is intended to maximize connectivity between users and data obtained from the physical twin. This paper describes how this type of digital twin operational platform (DTOP) can be used to connect the physical twin and other Internet-of-Things devices to both users and cloud computing services. The current release of the software—DTOP-Cristallo—uses the example of a three-storey structure as the engineering asset to be managed. Within DTOP-Cristallo, specific engineering software tools have been developed for use in the digital twin, and these are used to demonstrate the concept. At this stage, the framework presented is a prototype. However, the potential for open-source digital twin software using network connectivity is a very large area for future research and development.