Summary

A digital twin is the digital representation of an object of interest with data connection that enables convergence between the physical state and digital state at an appropriate rate of synchronization. The digital twin has been applied in various industry domains including manufacturing, transportation, energy, firefighting, medical and safety. Digital twin federation is the act of sharing data and functions among two or more digital twins to solve the problems related to multiple domains.

Recommendation ITU-T Y.4489 defines the reference architecture of digital twin federation. The information exchange model among the components, which are the digital twins, the registry and the communication adaptor, is required to define digital twin federation based on the reference architecture. The exchangeable information is the data and functions used for digital twin federation. The information exchange model provides the overview and defines the message structure with actions and objects. Actions are performed on objects through information exchange among the components.

Recommendation ITU-T Y.4605 addresses an information exchange model for digital twin federation in smart cities and communities.