A Short Introduction to Digital Twins
Figure 4: Relationships between Digital Twins in an Assembly (Yo-i Information Technology) 4 5 6
information. There are also semantic
relationships between the digital twins just
as there are in the real world. Failure to
establish these relationships would leave the
disconnected digital twin as an information
silo to itself. Since the information comes
from different sources, at different points in
time and in different formats, establishing
such relations in an automatic way is one of
the major challenges in designing digital
twins.
D IGITAL T WIN IN AN E NTITY
L IFECYCLE
A digital twin is a solution to the information
silo problem: the information about an
entity is usually scattered across multiple
information sources which are developed
and maintained by different organizations.
Figure 5 shows how digital twins can be used
to tackle the information silo problem. The
digital twin of the product is a means of, and
the single interface to, accessing its lifecycle
4 https://www.capgemini.com/2018/08/digital-twin-physical-meets-digital-world/
5 https://doncasterminigarage.com.au/mini-news/finish-line/
6 https://www.foodreview.co.za/schneider-electric-boosts-dairy-production/
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November 2019