Special Issue: Digital Twin-Driven Design and Manufacturing

Abstract

A digital twin (DT) is the real-time digital replica of a physical entity and system. It enables the seamless integration between digital models and physical devices so that the operation, monitoring, control, and upgrade of the system, as well as personnel training, can be performed in a cyber-physical mixture mode. DTs integrate technologies such as multiphysics multiscale modeling, Internet of Things, smart sensing, machine learning, and model-based control and act as a bridge between the physical world and the virtual world by mapping the whole life cycle of physical systems with real-time sensor data, and maintaining the complete digital trace. In the era of Industry 4.0, DT is becoming a powerful engine in the intelligent design of products and intelligent manufacturing.