Digital Twins: Benefits, Applications and Development Process

Digital twin technology has gained considerable traction in recent years, with diverse applications spanning multiple sectors. However, due to the inherent complexity and substantial costs associated with constructing digital twins, systematic development methodologies are essential for fully capitalizing on their benefits. Therefore, this paper firstly provides an exhaustive synthesis of related literature, highlighting: (1) ten core advantages of implementing digital twin technology; (2) five primary domains in which digital twin applications have been prevalently employed; and (3) ten principal objectives of digital twin applications. Subsequently, we propose a seven-step digital twin application development process, encompassing: (i) Digital Twin Purposing; (ii) Digital Twin Scoping; (iii) Physical Twin Modeling; (iv) Calibration and Validation; (v) Application Logic Development; (vi) External System Integration; and (vii) Deployment and Operation. This structured approach aims to demystify the intrinsic complexity of twinned systems, ensuring that the deployment of digital twin-based solutions effectively addresses the target problem while maximizing the derived benefits.