Systems Engineering Approach to Identify Requirements for Digital Twins Development

Digital Twins (DT) are proposed in industries to support the entire lifecycle of services with different perspectives. Lack of systematic analysis of DT concepts leads to various definitions and services which challenges the DT developers for data integration and integrated service delivery. In this paper, a systems engineering approach is proposed to identify the requirements of DT in order to formalize the DT concepts from a systematic perspective. The conceptual architecture of DT is defined based on ISO standard 42010. Several concepts are captured to recognize DT, to define related terminologies, and to identity concerns and viewpoints in order to provide cues for delivering DT services to industry. This approach is evaluated by multiple industrial use-cases under the Innosuisse IMPULSE project, from which one-use case is selected for further elaboration. It contributes to the development of DT associated to the use-case by addressing the requirements of DT using a semi-formal approach.