A Short Introduction to Digital Twins
Figure 3: Digital Twin Composition (XMPro)
The relationships between digital twins in an
assembly are typically:
Hierarchical: Just like their real-world
counterparts, a set of component
digital twins can be assembled into
an equipment digital twin, a set of
equipment digital twins can be
assembled into a production line
digital twin, a set of production line
digital twins can be assembled into a
factory digital twin—and so on.
Associational: There are associations
between digital twins, similar to their
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real-world counterparts. A gas
pipeline digital twin is associated
with its gas production and
consumption equipment digital
twins.
Peer-to-peer: The peer-to-peer
relationship is observed in a group of
equipment of same or similar types
which perform the same or similar
functions. The total effect of all the
equipment is the simple sum of the
outcome produced by each piece of
equipment.