The connotation of digital twin,and the construction and application method of shop-floor digital twin

Digital twin (DT) technology provides a novel, feasible, and clear implementation path for the realization of smart manufacturing and cyber-physical systems (CPS). Currently, DT is applied to all stages of the product lifecycle, including design, production, and service, although its application in the production stage is not yet extensive. Shop-floor digital twin (SDT) is a digital mapping model of the corresponding physical shop-floor. How to build and apply SDT has always been challenging when applying DT technology in the production phase. To address the existing problems, this paper first reviews the origin and evolution of DT, including its application status in the production stage. Then, an implementation framework for the construction and application of SDT is proposed. Three key implementation techniques are explained in detail: the five-dimensional modeling of SDT; DT-based 3D visual and real-time monitoring of shop-floor operating status; and prediction of shop-floor operating status based on SDT using Markov chain. A DT-based visual monitoring and prediction system (DT-VMPS) for shop-floor operating status is developed, and the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method are demonstrated through the use of an engineering case study. Finally, a summary of the contributions of the paper is given, and future research issues are discussed.     

From simple digital twin to complex digital twin part II: Multi-scenario applications of digital twin shop floor

The shop floor has always been an important application object for the digital twin. It is well known that production, process, and product are the core business of the shop floor. Therefore, the digital twin shop floor covers multi-dimensional information and multi-scale application scenarios. In this paper, the digital twin shop floor is constructed according to the modeling method of the complex digital twin proposed in Part I. The digital twin shop floor is firstly divided into several simple digital twins that focus on scenarios of different scales. Two simple application scenarios are constructed, including tool wear prediction and spindle temperature prediction. Main functions in different application scenarios, such as data acquisition, data processing, and data visualization, are implemented and encapsulated as components to construct simple digital twins. Secondly, ontology models, knowledge graphs, and message queues are used to assemble these simple digital twins into the complex digital twin shop floor. And two complex application scenarios are constructed, including machining geometry simulation considering spindle temperature and production scheduling considering tool wear. The implementation of the complex digital twin shop floor demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed modeling method.     

Simulation-based planning and control: From shop floor to top floor

This paper illustrates how simulation-based shop-floor planning and control can be extended to enterprise-level activities (top floor). First, the general planning and control concept are discussed, followed by an overview of simulation-based shop-floor planning and control. Analogies between the shop floor and top floor are discussed in terms of the components required to construct simulation-based planning and control systems. Analogies are developed for resource models, coordination models, physical entities, and simulation models. Differences between the shop floor and top floor are also discussed in order to identify new challenges faced for top-floor planning and control. A major difference between the top floor and the shop floor is the way a simulation model is constructed for use in planning, depending on whether time synchronization among member simulations becomes an issue or not. Another difference is in the distributed communication/computing platform. This work uses a distributed computing platform using Web services technology to integrate heterogeneous simulations and systems in a distributed top-floor control environment. The research results reveal that simulation-based planning and control is extensible to the top-floor environment’s evolving new research challenges.     

An effective MBSE approach for constructing industrial robot digital twin system

Recently, the rapid development of digital twin (DT) technology has been regarded significant in Cyber-physical systems (CPS) promotion. Scholars are focusing on the theoretical architecture and implementing applications, in order to establish a high-fidelity, dynamic, and full-lifecycle DT model and achieve a deep fusion of real and virtual. As a typical complex system with multi-disciplines, multi-physics, and multi-domain characteristics, industrial robot (IR) involves various processes and elements from the two other levels of the system: components and production lines. Their complex relationships lead to a huge challenge to build a comprehensive DT model. Current researchers usually concentrates on single-layer services because of limited construction methodology, which results in enormous isolated models, and leads to low reusable system blocks, finite scalability, and high costs of design, adjustment, upgrade, and maintenance. To address these issues, a standardized methodology and a hierarchical, modular, and generic architecture are proposed to depict comprehensive and variable industrial robot digital twin (IRDT). Firstly, the ontology information model is presented by analyzing variable factors systematically. Then, model-based system engineering (MBSE) based methodology is introduced, including construction process and variants management. After modeling process of three levels (problem domain, solution main, and implementation domain) and four viewpoints (requirement, structure, behavior, and parameter), a generic architecture of IRDT is constructed and a feature-based variants management method is described. Besides, a six-axis IRDTS is implemented to illustrate the mapping of logical architecture and physical system as a multi-level elements and processes representation example. And the steps of numerical evaluations consist of system delay and derivation. Finally, results show the effectiveness and the potential of the proposed theoretical methodology for constructing IRDTS and other industrial applications.     

An overview of function block enabled adaptive process planning for machining

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in job-shop machining are experiencing more shop-floor uncertainties today than ever before, due to multi-tier outsourcing, customised product demands and shortened product lifecycle. In a fluctuating shop floor environment, a process plan generated in advance is often found unsuitable or unusable to the targeted resources, resulting both in wasted effort spent in early process planning and in productivity drop when idle machines have to wait for operations to be re-planned. Consequently, an adaptive process planning approach is in demand. Targeting shop-floor uncertainty, the objective of this research is to develop a novel adaptive process planning method that can generate process plans at runtime to unplanned changes. This paper, in particular, presents an overview of adaptive process planning research and a new methodology, including two-layer system architecture, generic supervisory planning, machine-specific operation planning, and adaptive setup planning. Particularly, function blocks are introduced as a core enabling technology to bridge the gap between computer systems and CNC systems for adaptive machining.     

面向软件定义网络的可变粒度数字孪生构建技术

软件定义网络（software defined network,SDN）应用范围的扩大带来了应用需求多样化的挑战。利用数字孪生（digital twin,DT）增强SDN的实时分析、推演和控制能力,能更好地满足各种应用场景需求。然而,当前SDN的数字孪生构建面临着时延需求高、计算开销大、资源协调难的问题。因此,以应用需求为导向,在网络可用计算资源约束下,提出了一种新型的可变粒度数字孪生（variable granularity digital twin,VGDT）思想及其构建技术。VGDT结合网络可用计算资源分布特征,建立了保证数字孪生时延和完整度的多节点资源协同优化模型。在此基础上,利用混合编码遗传算法对该模型进行求解,获得最佳映射数据粒度和数字孪生部署方案,指导数字孪生的构建过程。仿真结果表明,与现有模式相比,在网络计算资源约束下,VGDT具有更高的数字孪生模型完整度和有效性。     

The digital twin of the quality monitoring and control in the series solar cell production line

With the development of intelligent manufacturing (IM), the Digital twin (DT) has become an important means to the evolution mechanism of the process. Many researchers pay attention on the realization of DT in different industries. Based on the DT and Digital Twin Shop Floor (DTS) model, a novel, high throughput metrology method is proposed in the process quality monitoring and control of the Series Solar Cell Production Line (SSCPL) for detailed performance analysis. The variance of individual loss parameters and their impact on quality performance are quantified and mapped into the virtual space. The nature of their distributions and correlations provide great insights about quality loss mechanisms in process monitoring, helping to prioritize efforts for optimizing the control of the SSCPL in the physical space. Additionally, the parameters can be tied back to the physical space, allowing the data to be used directly for the control in the manufacturing. The data-loop of “Autonomous perception of process parameters - Dynamic behaver mapping - Online monitoring - Online data analysis - Parameters configuration & control” can be obtained in the model. This paper provides an application paradigm for DT and IM.     

From verified model to executable program: the PAT approach

CSP# is a formal modeling language that emphasizes the design of communication in concurrent systems. PAT framework provides a model checking environment for the simulation and verification of CSP# models. Although the desired properties can be formally verified at the design level, it is not always straightforward to ensure the correctness of the system’s implementation conforms to the behaviors of the formal design model. To avoid human error and enhance productivity, it would be beneficial to have a tool support to automatically generate the executable programs from their corresponding formal models. In this paper, we propose such a solution for translating verified CSP# models into C# programs in the PAT framework. We encoded the CSP# operators in a C# library-“PAT.Runtime”, where the event synchronization is based on the “Monitor” class in C#. The precondition and choice layers are built on top of the CSP event synchronization to support language-specific features. We further developed a code generation tool to automatically transform CSP# models into multi-threaded C# programs. We proved that the generated C# program and original CSP# model are equivalent on the trace semantics. This equivalence guarantees that the verified properties of the CSP# models are preserved in the generated C# programs. Furthermore, based on the existing implementation of choice operator, we improved the synchronization mechanism by pruning the unnecessary communications among the choice operators. The experiment results showed that the improved mechanism notably outperforms the standard JCSP library.     

Consistency retention method for CNC machine tool digital twin model

Computer Numerical Control Machine Tool (CNCMT) Digital Twin (DT) model is a carrier for complex, time-varying, coupled data of CNCMT, which can theoretically provide a time-varying high-fidelity model. However, there are still many difficulties in its implementation process. And the key issue is how to realize the updated DT model with performance attenuation and validate it. In order to solve this problem, a model consistency retention method for CNCMT DT model is studied and proposed in this paper. Firstly, the framework of consistency retention method for DT model is designed including both digital space and physical space. The principles of data management and performance attenuation update in digital space are elaborated. Then, the implementation method for consistency retention of CNCMT DT model is studied in terms of performance attenuation update workflow for wear and other damage separately. Finally, a case study for the establishment and application of high-fidelity test bench DT model that focusing on rolling guide-rail is carried out to show the implementation flow of the proposed method and verify its operability and effectiveness.     

支持动态联盟的车间控制信息系统框架模型

随着世界市场的不断变化与市场竞争的加剧, 动态联盟将成为新的企业组织形态,动态联盟环境下企业间信息流的管理和控制问题越来越 受到人们的重视．车间控制器的设计和开发也必须适应动态联盟的需要．本文对敏捷制造信 息系统（AMIS）和车间的信息流程进行了分析和探讨,结合现有的网络技术、代理技术以及 分布工作流技术,提出了支持动态联盟的车间控制信息系统框架模型．     

How to model and implement connections between physical and virtual models for digital twin application

Digital twin (DT) is a virtual mirror (representation) of a physical world or a system along its lifecycle. As for a complex discrete manufacturing system (DMS), it is a digital model for emulating or reproducing the functions or actions of a real manufacturing system by giving the system simulation information or directly driven by a real system with proper connections between the DT model and the real-world system. It is a key building block for smart factory and manufacturing under the Industry 4.0 paradigm. The key research question is how to effectively create a DT model during the design stage of a complex manufacturing system and to make it usable throughout the system’s lifecycle such as the production stage. Given that there are some existing discussions on DT framework development, this paper focuses on the modeling methods for rapidly creating a virtual model and the connection implementation mechanism between a physical world production system at a workshop level and its mirrored virtual model. To reach above goals, in this paper, the discrete event system (DES) modeling theory is applied to the three-dimension DT model. First, for formally representing a manufacturing system and creating its virtual model, seven basic elements: controller, executor, processor, buffer, flowing entity, virtual service node and logistics path of a DMS have been identified and the concept of the logistics path network and the service cell is introduced to uniformly describe a manufacturing system. Second, for implementing interconnection and interaction, a new interconnection and data interaction mechanism between the physical system and its virtual model for through-life applications has been designed. With them, each service cell consists of seven elements and encapsulates input/output information and control logic. All the discrete cells are constructed and mapped onto different production-process-oriented digital manufacturing modules by integrating logical, geometric and data models. As a result, the virtual-physical connection is realized to form a DT model. The proposed virtual modeling method and the associated connection mechanism have been applied to a real-world workshop DT to demonstrate its practicality and usefulness.     

四旋翼飞行器的数字孪生系统设计

随着四旋翼飞行器在工程实践中的应用越发广泛,对其控制系统的精确性、快速性、适应性等要求也不断提高。近些年的研究热点--数字孪生,正是借助数据和模型模拟物理实体在现实环境中的行为,通过对物理对象的精准数字化,可用于提高物理实体或系统的运行效率。将数字孪生技术引入四旋翼飞行器的控制系统,建立四旋翼飞行器的数字孪生系统体系架构。详细阐述该体系架构搭建所涉及的相关技术：四旋翼飞行器的数字孪生建模;以传感器技术与无线通讯技术为载体的数据采集与传输;本地数据库配合Hadoop技术进行大数据存储、挖掘。对实际的四旋翼飞行器进行了模型仿真与实地测试,验证了所设计的数字孪生系统的有效性,达到了四旋翼飞行器的运行过程透明化和利用孪生数据优化飞行控制与机身状态的效果。     

质子交换膜燃料电池系统数字孪生故障诊断模型研究

基于数字孪生的平行故障诊断方法通过检测和评估真实系统与数字孪生系统之间的残差进行故障诊断,相关数字孪生体基于质子交换膜燃料电池动力学模型和数据集合建立.如果残差向量超过故障检测阈值,则利用故障残差的相对敏感度执行故障隔离.本文将平行故障诊断方法引入质子交换膜燃料电池系统,构建了基于数字孪生估计器的平行故障诊断模型.仿真...     

Building a right digital twin with model engineering

In recent years, the concept of digital twin (DT) is attracting more and more attention from researchers and engineers. But there is still no consensus on what a right DT is. On one hand, some common models are renamed as DTs. On the other hand, some DTs extremely pursue ‘the same’ as physical objects, which bring unnecessary complexities to them. In this paper, we try to answer two questions from the point of view of model engineering: how to define a right digital twin, and how to build a right digital twin. The concept and related technologies of model engineering are introduced. Some basic principles and a set of metrics for a right DT are given. An evolutionary concurrent modeling method for DT (ECoM4DT) is proposed not only inheriting the theory from classic M&S methods but also highlighting the characteristics of DT compared with traditional models to systemically guide the DT modeling process.     

Architectural requirements for rapid development of agile manufacturing systems

As product life cycle becomes shortened, high product quality becomes necessary for survival, and continuous and unexpected change becomes key obstacles in success, the need for a method of rapidly and cost-effectively developing products, production facilities and supporting software including design, process planning, shop floor control systems becomes urgent. The essence of this concept of manufacturing would be characterized by adopting a new term “agility”. Agile manufacturing can be successfully accomplished using various well-defined system architecture. This paper provides a primary sketch of architectural requirements for rapid development of agile manufacturing systems.There are several aspects of system architecture : control, function, process, information, communication, distribution, development, and implementation.In the past, the confusion of those architectures prohibited the successful construction of the automated CIM systems.     

A digital twin-driven human-robot collaborative assembly approach in the wake of COVID-19

In the wake of COVID-19, the production demand of medical equipment is increasing rapidly. This type of products is mainly assembled by hand or fixed program with complex and flexible structure. However, the low efficiency and adaptability in current assembly mode are unable to meet the assembly requirements. So in this paper, a new framework of human-robot collaborative (HRC) assembly based on digital twin (DT) is proposed. The data management system of proposed framework integrates all kinds of data from digital twin spaces. In order to obtain the HRC strategy and action sequence in dynamic environment, the double deep deterministic policy gradient (D-DDPG) is applied as optimization model in DT. During assembly, the performance model is adopted to evaluate the quality of resilience assembly. The proposed framework is finally validated by an alternator assembly case, which proves that DT-based HRC assembly has a significant effect on improving assembly efficiency and safety.     

Digital twin-driven optimization of gas exchange system of 2-stroke heavy fuel aircraft engine

Multiple parts in gas exchange system of 2-stroke heavy fuel aircraft engine with poppet valves lead to complicated manufacturing and inefficient assembly. Besides, real experimental optimization wastes lots of time and cost due to the increased valve parameters. To address the above issues, the paper proposes a digital twin (DT)-driven optimization method with several DT modules for the system to virtually simulate and optimize the parameters, performance and manufacturing with data interaction and recorded. The DT modules receive real-time feedback data from manufacturing measurements and performance tests to conduct the correction throughout the optimization process. The results demonstrate that the virtual engine model with feedback and correction is quite precise and credible compared with test results, and iterative calculation for optimal parameters is performed efficiently. With the guidance of virtual manufacturing, real manufacturing and assembly are arranged more reasonably and efficiency has been promoted. Real-world test found both power and gas exchange performance improved about 4% under various engine speeds and loads, which verified the effectiveness of DT-driven optimization. The study achieves the integration between virtual and real worlds of the system performance and manufacturing, which facilitates the development of aircraft engine smart manufacturing.     

A state-of-the-art survey on Augmented Reality-assisted Digital Twin for futuristic human-centric industry transformation

The combination of Augmented Reality (AR) and Digital Twin (DT) has begun to show its potential nowadays, leading to a growing research interest in both academia and industry. Especially under the current human-centric trend, AR embraces the potential to integrate operators into the new generation of Human Cyber–Physical System (HCPS), in which DT is a pillar component. Some review articles have focused on this topic and discussed the benefits of combining AR and DT, but all of them are limited to a specific domain. To fill the gap, this research conducts a state-of-the-art survey (till 17-July-2022) from the AR-assisted DT perspective across different sectors of the industrial field, covering a total of 118 selected publications. Firstly, application scenarios and functions of AR-assisted DT are summarized by following the engineering lifecycle, among which production process, service design, and Human–Machine Interaction (HMI) are hot topics. Then, improvements specifically brought by AR are analyzed according to three dimensions, namely virtual twin, hybrid twin, and cognitive twin, respectively. Finally, challenges and future perspectives of AR-assisted DT for futuristic human-centric industry transformation are proposed, including promoting product design, robotic-related works, cyber–physical interaction, and human ergonomics.     

四旋翼无人机飞行过程孪生仿真研究

为了满足无人机在实际飞行过程中的虚实交互、实时响应和精确控制等要求,以四旋翼无人机的飞行过程作为任务需求,提出基于数字孪生技术的四旋翼无人机飞行过程仿真研究。搭建了四旋翼无人机飞行数字孪生系统架构,分析了数字孪生体仿真数据的流向及其作用,并对四旋翼无人机飞行数字孪生系统的功能和意义进行了介绍。从几何、物理、行为和规则等四个方面融合构建了四旋翼无人机的数字孪生体模型。最后进行了四旋翼无人机巡航过程的案例研究,通过仿真案例中的各项参数分析,考察了虚实无人机之间的交互性,证明了数字孪生体模型的精确性,验证了四旋翼无人机飞行数字孪生系统的可行性。