Systems Modelling Language-Driven Digital Twins – Applications, Challenges and Sustainability: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Using data from various Internet of Things (IoT) sensors attached to any object, system, or process, which is integrated by a specialized model, a digital/virtual blueprint of the physical entity can be attained. Such blueprints that can mirror their real-world counterparts in real-time are known as Digital Twins (DTs). These twins heavily rely on diverse forms of data, and the ones that use the Systems Modelling Language (SysML) to streamline the same are referred to as SysML-driven Digital Twins (SysML-drivenDT’s). Such model based twins are revolutionizing industrial processes such as predictive maintenance and operational optimization in plants through a structured, model-based approach to capturing and simulating complex systems. Here we show the technology behind the functioning of a DT, its vast applications and advantages in the industrial world, and ways to boost efficiency and unlock a massive potential, along with some of the limitations regarding its use. This paper explains the integration of visualization and human interaction tools such as Virtual reality(VR); how SysML-driven DT’s can function in various industries, including robotization of product lines, predictive maintenance, monitoring, cost reduction, and minimization of emissions and waste, and the ways in which it is able to benefit industries, along with limitations such as high initial cost and usage difficulty due to technical complexity. In this paper we also discuss how DTs can play a major role in sustainability. The paper also goes over a case study conducted in China related to a manufacturing company and DTs. Our discussions provide a solid overall view on this technology and explains in depth the key aspects of its functioning and usage. The paper highlights that DTs can revolutionize the industrial sector, while acknowledging some of its technical constraints. It demonstrates how DTs have a major scope of implementation and how upgrades like integration with technologies like VR, artifact reuse, interoperability and a green twin model can upgrade the DT concept, making it better