Shades of Digital Twinning
twin is far too broad. One can start with a
wide definition, but it is critical to uncover
what is hidden under these far-reaching
brush strokes. There are other concepts
needed to express the edge computing
ecosystem; parts such as control shell,
device proxy, device shadow, visual twin,
simulation twin, etc. Of course, it would help
to align these terms better with the words
used to describe them.
The definitions may differ, but the concept is
the same: “a virtual, digital equivalent to a
physical product or the Digital Twin” as
defined by Dr. Michael Grieves, when he first
coined the name in 2003 for his University of
Michigan Executive Course on Product
Lifecycle Management. 7
At that time, the concept was in its infancy.
Hardly any data was being collected from
physical products, but the core of what was
identified was the critical three elements
responsible for a flourishing IoT: a physical
product, a virtual product and what connects
them. It was an important concept to note,
as Grieves in a 2014 whitepaper 8
documented that over the course of the ten
years since digital twin was born, “the
development and maintenance of the virtual
product and the design and manufacture of
the physical product has exploded.”
This is not to downplay the digital twin
concept. Twinning is central to the value
chain of IoT, but oversimplification
downplays the complexity of an architecture
that needs to be developed for the IoT to be
successful. That begins with nomenclature.
There are many definitions for digital twin.
Generally the definition surrounds “a digital
representation of a physical object or
system.” Some, such as Oracle, consider it “a
software or virtual representation of a
physical asset with the objective of making
the asset more valuable.” 5 Siemens offers “A
digital twin is a virtual representation of a
physical product or process, used to
understand and predict the physical
counterpart’s performance characteristics.” 6
According to the Gartner Hype Cycle, 9 four
years later in 2018, 10 digital twin reached the
peak of the IoT hype cycle. Building on
Gartner and other industry analyst reports,
the ISO and IEC Joint Technical Committee
for information technology (ISO/IEC JTC1)
put digital twin in the top five category of
5 https://www.iiconsortium.org/wc-technology.htm
6 https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/global/en/our-story/glossary/digital-twin/24465
7
Grieves, M. Digital Twin: Manufacturing Excellence through Virtual Factory Replication; A White Paper; Michael Grieves, LLC:
Melbourne, FL, USA, 2014. [Google Scholar]
8
M. Grieves, “Digital twin: Manufacturing excellence through virtual factory replication,” White paper, 2014 [Online].
https://research.fit.edu/media/site-
specific/researchfitedu/camid/documents/1411.0_Digital_Twin_White_Paper_Dr_Grieves.pdf
9
Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2017 & 2018. https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/top-trends-in-the-
gartner-hype-cycle-for-emerging-technologies-2017/
10
https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2018/
IIC Journal of Innovation
- 87 -