Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Abstract: A digital twin is a digital counterpart of a physical thing such as a machine. The term digital twin was first introduced in 2010. Thereafter, it has received an extensive amount of interest because of the numerous benefits it is expected to offer throughout the product life cycle. Currently, the concept is developed by the world’s largest companies such as Siemens. The purpose of this thesis is to examine which application layer protocols and communication technologies are the most suitable for the sensor data transmission from a physical twin to a digital twin. In addition, a platform enabling this data transmission is developed. \n \nAs the concept of a digital twin is relatively new, a comprehensive literature view on the definition of a digital twin in scientific literature is presented. It has been found that the vision of a digital twin has evolved from the concepts of ‘intelligent products’ presented at the beginning of the 2000s. The most widely adopted definition states that a digital twin accurately mirrors the current state of its corresponding twin. However, the definition of a digital twin is not yet standardized and varies in different fields. \n \nBased on the literature review, the communication needs of a digital twin are derived. Thereafter, the suitability of HTTP, MQTT, CoAP, XMPP, AMQP, DDS, and OPC UA for sensor data transmission are examined through a literature review. In addition, a review of 4G, 5G, NB-IoT, LoRa, Sigfox, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, ZigBee, and WirelessHART is presented. \n \nA platform for the management of the sensors is developed. The platform narrows the gap between the concept and realization of a digital twin by enabling sensor data transmission. The platform allows easy addition of sensors to a physical twin and provides an interface for their configuration remotely over the Internet. It supports multiple sensor types and application protocols and offers both web user iterface and REST API.
Source: Aaltodoc (Aalto University)
Author: Riku Ala-Laurinaho
Language: English
Subfield: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2947623683