Digital Twin Requirements in the Context of Industry 4.0

Digital Twin (DT) is being considered a significant enabler for Industry 4.0 initiatives. Within Industry 4.0, the amount of digital product information generated and collected over the entire lifecycle has been growing. Current information and communication technologies, including data storage, data processing, and wireless data transmission, may be leveraged to digitally mirror the lifecycle of a corresponding physical product with increasing level of detail. A DT creates a link between physical products and their virtual models with more comprehensive data and accumulation of knowledge. Therefore, a DT may be applied to enhance simulation, traceability and to support the offering of value-added services along the lifecycle. However, the definition of a DT and its requirements are not yet fully established. The characteristics a DT model should possess to be widely used in manufacturing remains an open question in the literature. The concept is still broad and dependent on the lifecycle stage and industry sector of application. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to propose an initial synthesis of DT requirements based on a literature review and industry interviews. The literature review focuses on the content analysis of papers published from 2010 to 2018 and indexed in the ISI Web of Science database. The interviews were conducted with industry representatives in Brazil. The results show that DT requirements are related to real-time data, integration, and fidelity. Besides, it shows that industry requirements are close to literature and the actual implementation of DT is the future of research in this field.