A framework for developing Federated Digital Twins to pursue the Society 5.0 (FDT4S)

SBPLY/24/180225/000020

Main Goal

Introduction

Abstract

Society 5.0 is emerging as an evolution of the Information Society, shifting the focus from information and its management to people. Society 5.0 will enable a high degree of fusion between cyberspace and physical space, being capable of balancing economic advancement with the resolution of social problems by providing goods and services that address multiple latent needs in a granular manner, regardless of location, age, gender, or language. To achieve this Society 5.0, Digital Twins (DT) are one of the essential enabling technologies, as they establish the connection between cyberspace and the physical world. A DT monitors real-time data from sensors and other sources, being able to simulate the behaviour of its physical counterpart and predict possible outcomes. Currently, most industrial proposals in this área present DT as monolithic, individual applications focused on offering that bidirectional communication between the physical entity and its DT. However, different studies suggest the need to go further, considering DT as autonomous entities capable of cooperating, collaborating, and coordinating with other DT to achieve goals that they would not be able to achieve in isolation.

Therefore, this project focuses on developing this evolution of the DT concept. Specifically, it proposes the concept of Federated Digital Twins (FDT) as an alternative to achieve this evolution. The aim is to design and develop DT that can be operated and managed independently, simplifying not only their development but also facilitating their maintainability and evolution. Therefore, the general objective of this project is to design a holistic framework for the development of FDT, considering the needs of both developers and end-users in the context of Society 5.0.

Main Challenges

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Identify interconnection patterns that optimise this communication process between the physical entity and the DT, minimising various aspects such as latency, while also considering the need to use or share information between different autonomous DTs.

Identify patterns for information storage considering the constraints imposed by FDTs.

Identify architectural styles that enable autonomous DTs to act as a federation.

Provide mechanisms to aggregate knowledge from different autonomous DTs following a decentralised model, as well as adapt its processing thanks to its interaction with the federation.

Define a general quality assurance framework for FDT.

Define a design framework that facilitates interaction between POs and FDTs.

Identify theoretical proposals that provide a solid foundation for the development of FDT using MAS.

Study social interaction based on concepts such as social presence, sociability, and social space

Understand how the combined use of different technological platforms (XR, tablets, smartwatches, etc.) affects social interactions

Create human-like emotional behaviour by equipping them with basic principles of social behaviour, such as the application of Theory of Mind.

Main Goal

Design a holistic framework for the development of Federated Digital Twins, considering both the needs of developers and end users in the context of Society 5.0.

Specific Objectives

Analyse existing interconnection patterns to facilitate interconnection between OFs and their DTs with regard to characteristics such as latency and information homogeneity.

Analyse the information storage patterns available for FDT development with regard to characteristics such as privacy and information homogeneity.

Analyse existing architectural styles to facilitate the development of autonomous DTs, bearing in mind that these must have communication, collaboration and cooperation capabilities.

Analyse the alternatives existing in the literature that enable the design of FDT architecture in order to support cognitive diversity and distributed problem solving.

Define a quality assurance framework for FDT, tailored to its distinctive characteristics and taking into account other technologies that will be used in conjunction with it.

Analyse which User Experience (UX) factors are applicable in the interaction between the DT and the PO.

Define a proposal for the specification and design of FDT based on MAS, providing them with communication, collaboration and cooperation capabilities and integrating the different patterns and styles analysed.

Analyse, through the development of prototypes, how FDTs facilitate social interaction based on concepts such as social presence, sociability and social space.