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Digital twin data: methods and key technologies

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Digital Twin Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021

METHOD ARTICLE

Digital twin data: methods and key technologies [version 1;

peer review: 1 approved, 3 approved with reservations]
Meng Zhang 1, Fei Tao 2, Biqing Huang1, Ang Liu 3, Lihui Wang 4,

Nabil Anwer5, A. Y. C. Nee6

1Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
2School of Automation Science and Electrical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China
3School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
4Department of Production Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, SE-10044, Sweden
5Automated Production Research Laboratory, Paris-Saclay University, ENS Paris-Saclay, LURPA, 91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
6Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117576, Singapore

v1 First published: 22 Sep 2021, 1:2 Open Peer Review

https://doi.org/10.12688/digitaltwin.17467.1
Latest published: 22 Sep 2021, 1:2
https://doi.org/10.12688/digitaltwin.17467.1 Reviewer Status

Invited Reviewers
Abstract
As a promising technology to converge the traditional industry with 1 2 3 4
the digital economy, digital twin (DT) is being investigated by
researchers and practitioners across many different fields. The version 1
importance of data to DT cannot be overstated. Data plays critical 22 Sep 2021 report report report report
roles in constructing virtual models, building cyber-physical
connections, and executing intelligent operations. The unique
1. Huibin Sun, Northwestern Polytechnical
characteristics of DT put forward a set of new requirements on data.
Against this background, this paper discusses the emerging University, Xi'an, China
requirements on DT-related data with respect to data gathering,
2. Pai Zheng , The Hong Kong Polytechnic
mining, fusion, interaction, iterative optimization, universality, and on-
demand usage. A new notion, namely digital twin data (DTD), is University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
introduced. This paper explores some basic principles and methods
for DTD gathering, storage, interaction, association, fusion, evolution 3. Yicha Zhang, Universite de Technologie de
and servitization, as well as the key enabling technologies. Based on Belfort-Montbeliard, Sevenans, France
the theoretical underpinning provided in this paper, it is expected that
more DT researchers and practitioners can incorporate DTD into their 4. Aydin Nassehi , University of Bristol,
DT development process. Bristol, UK

Keywords Any reports and responses or comments on the

digital twin (DT), digital twin data (DTD), principles, methods, key
article can be found at the end of the article.
technologies

 
Page 1 of 18
Digital Twin Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021

Corresponding author: Fei Tao (ftao@buaa.edu.cn)

Author roles: Zhang M: Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft Preparation; Tao F: Conceptualization,
Funding Acquisition, Methodology, Project Administration, Supervision, Writing – Review & Editing; Huang B: Methodology, Supervision,
Writing – Review & Editing; Liu A: Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing; Wang L: Methodology, Visualization, Writing – Review &
Editing; Anwer N: Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing; Nee AYC: Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing
Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Grant information: This work is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFB1708400) and
Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (JQ19011). The grants were assigned to Prof. Fei Tao.
Copyright: © 2021 Zhang M et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
How to cite this article: Zhang M, Tao F, Huang B et al. Digital twin data: methods and key technologies [version 1; peer review: 1
approved, 3 approved with reservations] Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 https://doi.org/10.12688/digitaltwin.17467.1
First published: 22 Sep 2021, 1:2 https://doi.org/10.12688/digitaltwin.17467.1

 
Page 2 of 18

From data to digital twin data
With the rapid development of new information technologies
(e.g., Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data, and artifi-
cial intelligence), the digital economy continues to flourish on a
global scale. As an innovative way to converge the traditional
industry and digital economy, digital twin (DT) is attracting
continued attention from different fields1, such as aerospace2,3,
automotive4,5, shipping6, smart grid7,8, and smart city9. Espe-
cially in the field of smart manufacturing, DT has been
widely applied in control and management for shop-floor10,11,
rapid configuration of production line12, product lifecycle
management13, intelligent logistics14, dynamic scheduling15,16, robot
operation optimization17, product quality assurance18,19, machine
tool maintenance20, and human-robot interaction21,22. Practi-
cal applications of digital twin involve a set of key enabling
technologies23, concerning the construction and verifica-
tion of virtual models, the construction and management
of intelligent services, the real-time sensing and control of
physical entities, cyber-physical interaction and integration,
multi-modal data association and fusion, and so forth. Since
data is indispensable in empowering all these technologies, it
can be argued that the success of DT lies in the availability of
high-quality data source.
Early-stage data acquisition is typically conducted by manual
means, which suffers from low efficiency and high cost. Since
the collected data is less in quantity and poor in real-time per-
formance, they could only reflect features of a physical entity
(e.g., machine tool and process) for a limited period of time
with inevitable delays. Benefiting from the emergence of new
information technologies in recent years, a huge volume of data
can be collected by sensors, IoT devices, mobile devices, and
wearable devices in real time and processed through an inte-
grated computing infrastructure (e.g., cloud computing, edge
computing, and fog computing). As a result, it is possible to
obtain a complete data record and conduct timely analysis
throughout the whole lifecycle of a physical entity. On the
other hand, the growth of DT-related research and application
puts forward new requirements on data.
(1) Requirements on comprehensive data gathering
Comprehensive data is required to enhance the accuracy, effi-
ciency, and adaptability of DT-based services (e.g., performance
prediction, process optimization, and quality assurance).
Comprehensive data refers to a wide spectrum of data includ-
ing, for example, data on both normal state and abnormal
state, data on both common event and rare event, data on both
certain scenario and uncertain scenario, and so forth. DT appli-
cations developed upon incomprehensive data suffer from
various challenges. On the one hand, some existing work
focuses mainly on data gathered from the physical world, for
which, it is difficult to include low-probability data (e.g., fail-
ure data and extreme environment data) and data that could not
be measured directly (e.g., deformation data, stress distribu-
tion, and airflow distribution)24. On the other hand, some other
work focuses primarily on data gathered from virtual models,
for which, it is difficult to accurately simulate disturbance data
caused by abrupt disturbances and time-varying data with high
Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021
uncertainties25. A successful DT solution should be powered
by comprehensive data obtained from both the physical and
virtual worlds.
(2) Requirements on knowledge mining
To build insightful virtual models that can reflect a physical
entity’s internal mechanisms and rules, it is necessary to
derive knowledge behind raw data through data mining. The
in-depth mining of massive data (e.g., physical entity data,
virtual model data, and information system data) towards new
knowledge remains a challenge. On the one hand, not every
data is equally useful for extracting information and knowl-
edge, in particular, concerning the irrelevant data, abnormal data,
and redundant data. On the other hand, it is difficult to fully
explore various relations hidden behind the data (e.g., causal,
analogous, and complementary relations) to further support
in-depth knowledge mining.
(3) Requirements on seamless data fusion
Since DT-related data comes from multiple sources (e.g., physi-
cal entity, virtual model, and service), there exists data noise,
inconsistency, and conflict. For the data collected from a
physical entity, various factors such as sensor malfunction,
environmental fluctuation, and human interference would affect
information entropy (an indicator of the degree of informa-
tion uncertainty). For the data simulated by virtual models,
deviations from the physical reality due to unsatisfac-
tory model effectiveness would reduce the data reliability.
In addition, neither the collected data nor the simulated data
is sufficient to derive global perspectives. Data fusion is there-
fore required, through which, data obtained from diversified
sources is integrated synthetically. By doing so, data can be
verified, corrected, and supplemented by each other, hence
leading to more accurate and consistent information extraction.
(4) Requirements on real-time data interaction
Real-time data interaction is required to enable coordinated
operations. Firstly, real-time data from the physical entity can
be used to dynamically update parameters of the virtual mod-
els, whereas simulation data from the virtual models is fed back
to the physical entity in order to align its behaviors with a simu-
lation plan. Secondly, data from DT-based services should be
communicated with the physical entity for timely diagnosis,
maintenance, and control, whereas real-time data from the
physical entity can be used to update the services and make
them more adaptable to the changing physical realities. Thirdly,
since service availability should be verified before execution,
real-time simulation results by the virtual models should be
communicated with service providers to illustrate deficiencies,
whereas service data can be used to calibrate the virtual models
and improve their accuracy.
(5) Requirements on iterative optimization
In the paper, iterative optimization refers to a cyclic process of
“data increase - data fusion - information increase”, through
which, new data is fused with historical data to generate new
information continuously. Iterative optimization plays a critical
role in improving the virtual models and services. In practice,
Page 3 of 18

iterative optimization faces two challenges. Firstly, for data
fusion, the lack of autonomy and continuity makes it difficult
to iterate effectively. Secondly, even if an iterative process
can be sustained, the continued information growth cannot
always be guaranteed, because data fusion from time to time can
result in information loss.
(6) Requirements on data universality
Low universality of data is a main obstacle for DT applications.
It is difficult to transfer DT across different application scenar-
ios, which enclose different requirements and constraints on data
acquisition and accumulation. The difficulty of data exchange
and parsing is affected by various facets of a certain applica-
tion scenario, such as different physical entities (e.g., robot,
machine tool, and autonomous vehicle), data types, structures,
interfaces and communication protocols, etc. Against different
application scenarios (e.g., design, production, and main-
tenance), it is difficult to achieve smooth data integration
and sharing due to various data formats, classifications, and
encapsulations. To cope with these difficulties, it is necessary
to unify data transformation towards high universality of data.
(7) Requirements on on-demand data usage
Since DT users play different roles and undertake different
responsibilities, they tend to demand different types of data.
For examples, field operators demand on-site operational
data (e.g., assembly sequence, maintenance steps, and control
order); technicians demand process data (e.g., real-time
condition monitoring data, equipment performance data, and
diagnosis data); senior managers demand market data (e.g., mate-
rial cost, market dynamics, and product benchmarking)26. It is
difficult to implement generic data operations (e.g., searching,
matching, combination, invocation and visualization) in con-
sideration of significant user discrepancies in terms of demand,
professional skill, knowledge level, etc. To address this issue,
it is necessary to encapsulate data provision as on-demand
services.
Considering the above-mentioned requirements, the authors
proposed a new notion, namely digital twin data (DTD), which
constitutes an important part of the five-dimension DT, in the
previous work26. Based on this, this paper aims to provide the
theoretical underpinning of DTD with respect to its structure
and processing. The remainder of this paper is organized
as follows. Section 2, ‘Composition of digital twin data’,
introduces the composition of DTD, followed by a set of
DTD principles in Section 3, ‘Principles for digital twin data’.
Section 4, ‘Methodology for digital twin data’, presents a
structured methodology for DTD gathering, storage, interaction,
association, fusion, evolution and servitization. Section 5, ‘Key
enabling technologies for digital twin data’ elaborates a set of
key technologies concerning seven aspects. The final section
concludes this work and outlines future work.
Composition of digital twin data
According to previous studies26, DTD can be classified into six
parts, i.e., physical entity-related data, virtual model-related
data, service-related data, fusion data, connection data, and
Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021
domain knowledge. Figure 1 illustrates how these parts are
interrelated towards a whole DTD.
Physical entity refers to an object existing in the physical world
with specific functions, behaviors, and structures26. Physical
entity-related data can be used to describe the static property
(e.g., size, position, attribute, and capability) and reflect the
dynamic state (e.g., health status, abrupt disturbance, and
working conditions) concerning a physical entity. Physical
entity-related data is the basis of constructing DTD.
Virtual models reproduce and describe a physical entity in the
digital space with respect to different aspects, such as geomet-
ric property, physical parameter, dynamic behavior, operation
and maintenance rules, and so forth26. Virtual model-related data
include model parameters and simulation data (e.g., simulation
conditions, simulation process data, and simulation results).
Virtual model-related data is naturally coupled with the physi-
cal entity-related data, as virtual models are essentially built
upon a physical entity.
DT services can be classified into application services and func-
tional services27. Application services are provided, based
on the physical entity-related data and virtual model-related
data, to directly solve problems in a certain application sce-
nario, such as equipment prognosis, resources scheduling,
and product quality assurance. Therefore, the service-related
data mainly includes performance data, scheduling data, and
quality data. On the other hand, functional services are provided
to support normal operations of DT by realizing relevant
functions such as model management, data processing, data
connection, etc. Related data therefore includes model
configuration data, algorithm configuration data and service
encapsulation data, etc.
Domain knowledge includes common knowledge such as
expert experience, predefined rules, and industry standards26.
Besides, domain knowledge also involves new knowledge
being generated by data mining. Domain knowledge can be
used to guide model construction, service optimization, data
processing, etc.
Fusion data can be considered as a result of merging the physi-
cal entity-related data, virtual model-related data, service-related
data and knowledge. Through data fusion, multi-source data
with underlying relations are made complementary with
each other, towards forming a unified description26. Compared with
single-source data, fusion data can combine data from multiple
perspectives, thus, including more abundant information.
Connection data refers to data derived from and transferred
among the physical entity-related data, virtual model-related
data, service-related data, fusion data and domain knowledge26.
Different from raw data of the five parts, connection data is
typically compressed through data processing algorithms to
streamline data traffic and reduce communication cost. Connection
data makes it possible to compare data from different parts
of DTD towards higher consistency.
Page 4 of 18

Figure 1. Composition of digital twin data (DTD).
Principles for digital twin data
In this section, a set of basic principles of gathering and process-
ing DTD are proposed by the authors. They are developed
in order to fulfil the requirements raised in Section 1 (‘From
data to digital twin data’), i.e., comprehensive data gathering,
knowledge mining, seamless data fusion, real-time data interac-
tion, iterative optimization, data universality, and on-demand
data usage, as shown in Figure 2.
(1) Complementary principle
The complementary principle of DTD corresponds to the
requirement of comprehensive data gathering. It emphasizes
the simultaneous gathering of data from both the physical and
virtual worlds, which supplement each other and make up
respective deficiencies. On one hand, the physical entity-related
data can truly reflect the dynamic changes of physical real-
ity, including uncertainty, fuzziness, and complexity, which
are difficult to simulate. On the other hand, the virtual mod-
els can generate a great variety of rare event data, unmeasurable
data, and multi-physics coupling data through simulation at low
cost, which cannot be directly collected from the physical world.
(2) Standardization principle
As much as possible, DTD obtained from various objects,
models, conditions, and scenes should be transformed
into standardized data with unified structure, format, type,
encapsulation, interface, etc. A template that describes the data
with respect to different aspects would be built, to help identify
their differences with the standard version. The standardization
principle is intended for DTD to fulfil the requirement on
Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021
data universality, thus to support data exchange between
different application objects, data migration and reuse under
different application conditions, as well as data sharing and
integration against different application scenarios.
(3) Timeliness principle
The timeliness principle emphasizes that the connection data
between any two parts of DTD (i.e., physical entity-related
data, virtual model-related data, service-related data, fusion
data and domain knowledge) should be transferred and adjusted
in a timely manner, as a way to enable real-time data inter-
action. Towards this goal, the connection data should be
efficiently compressed in the interest of data transmission.
Besides, when the connection data between two parts is discov-
ered to be inconsistent (i.e., the discrepancy exceeds a predefined
value), timely adjustment is triggered to diagnose inconsistency
and restore consistency.
(4) Association principle
The association principle corresponds to the requirement on
knowledge mining. It emphasizes extracting various associa-
tion relations among different parts of DTD, such as the causal,
analogous, and complementary relations among the physical
entity-related data, virtual model-related data, service-related
data, and domain knowledge. The extracted associations can
reflect valuable information such as behavioral patterns of the
physical entity, simulation mechanisms of the virtual mod-
els, and behavior-performance mappings between different
parts of DT. Underlying knowledge can be further induced based
on such information.
Page 5 of 18

Figure 2. Principles for digital twin data (DTD).
(5) Fusion principle
The fusion principle corresponds to the requirement on
seamless data fusion. It emphasizes realizing the data fusion
by fully merging data with different relations. For examples,
by fusing analogous data from the physical and virtual worlds,
which could be verified by each other, it can minimize the uncer-
tainty, randomness, and fuzziness of the physical entity-related
data or improve the reliability of the virtual model-related
data. Besides, by fusing complementary data from different
sources, more comprehensive data can be obtained to achieve
richer information.
(6) Information growth principle
The information growth principle corresponds to the require-
ment on iterative optimization. It means that, with the
continuous accumulation of data, DTD should be optimized
iteratively through continued data fusion between the new data
with the historical data. Through iterative fusions, the rules of
information extraction should be mined to guide the subse-
quent data fusions. After each fusion, the increase or decrease in
information quantity can be evaluated to decide whether accept
the fusion or not, as a way, to ensure the lasting growth of
information.
(7) Servitization principle
The servitization principle means encapsulating DTD-related
resources (e.g., data, data models, data processing algorithms,
and data visualization methods) into on-demand services,
Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021
which can be treated as black boxes with respect to the corre-
sponding input, output, control, and mechanism. When a user
proposes a demand on data, which is decomposed into
sub-demands, suitable services are searched, matched, and
combined to provide the required data. This principle is intended
to lower the requirements on a user’s professional skills in
virtue of those on-demand data services.
Methodology for digital twin data
Based on the above principles, a methodology for DTD gath-
ering, storage, interaction, association, fusion, evolution, and
servitization is developed by authors, as shown in Figure 3.
According to the complementary principle, with respect to data
gathering, data from both the physical and virtual worlds should
be collected simultaneously to ensure data comprehensive-
ness. According to the standardization principle, with respect to
data storage, data with different formats, structures, encap-
sulations, and interfaces should be transformed towards
standard shapes. The real-time interaction is realized through
timely transmission and adjustment for the connection data
based on the timeliness principle. According to the association
principle, various relations between different DT compo-
nents should be extracted to support further knowledge min-
ing. Based on the fusion principle, fusion data is generated by
merging similar data and complementary data for mutual cor-
rection and supplementation. The information growth principle
is followed to interpret the progressive data evolution. Based
on the servitization principle, the data-related resources are
Page 6 of 18

Figure 3. Methodology for digital twin data (DTD).
encapsulated into services to enable the on-demand usage of data
by different users. The relevant methods are elaborated as
follows.
Digital twin data gathering
DTD gathering refers to the gathering of physical entity-
related data, virtual model-related data, service-related data,
and domain knowledge. These four kinds of data constitute the
foundation of DTD, upon which, the fusion data and connec-
tion data can be derived. For the physical entity-related data,
the dynamic data (e.g., entity state, environment parameters,
and abrupt disturbances) can be collected in real time by means
of sensors, embedded systems, radio frequency identification
(RFID), and so forth; while the static data (e.g., entity
attribute, performance, and functions) can be obtained through
off-line measurement and sampling inspection. The virtual
model-related data is typically generated by the process of
modeling, simulating, and verifying those geometric, physi-
cal, behavioral, and rule models. The data can be gathered
through manual books, simulation logs, and real-time simu-
lation outputs. In particular, since the physical model-based
simulation (e.g., computational fluid dynamics simulation) tends
to be time-consuming and even inaccurate, a hybrid method
that combines physical models and data-driven approaches can
be adopted to improve the simulation efficiency and accuracy19.
Service-related data is generated based on application services
and functional services. Such data can be obtained throughout
the service construction, operation, and maintenance. Domain
knowledge is typically collected from experts, crowdsourced,
knowledge bases, and historical data, etc.
Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021
Digital twin data storage
The physical entity-related data, virtual model-related data,
and service-related data collected from different applica-
tion objects, conditions, and scenarios should be transformed
into a unified mode and then stored for sharing, reuse, and
exchange. Towards this goal, data should be represented in a
standardized fashion first, which involves the description of data
format, structure, encapsulation, sampling frequency, historical
data accumulation, interface, communication protocol, etc.
Next, necessary constraints are defined in terms of histori-
cal data accumulation, data type, sampling frequency, etc.,
to filter those unqualified application conditions, where DT
is inapplicable due to the lack of adequate data. If certain
constraints cannot be complied with, it indicates that the cor-
responding application conditions are not qualified. For the
qualified ones, data from different scenarios (e.g., design,
production, and maintenance) with various formats, structures
and encapsulations are converted based on a unified tem-
plate. Data from different objects (e.g., robot and machine
tool) are transferred by means of unified interface and com-
munication protocol. Then the data can be modeled based
on a suitable modeling language. There are a wide variety of
modelling languages and methods used in the literature
to handle data and information modeling for products and
systems, such as unified modeling language (UML)28, systems
modeling language (SysML)29, ontology language30, etc. How-
ever, each modeling language has its own semantics which
limits data and format compatibility and exchanges. New sound
mathematical approaches based on Category theory31 could
provide a new way to create a comprehensive foundation for
Page 7 of 18

modeling, interoperability and integration. Based on this, the
data can be further stored.
Digital twin data interaction
Connectivity among different parts of DTD should be estab-
lished to support real-time interactions. Firstly, it is necessary
to select the suitable data that carries useful information
from different parts of DTD to support the message transmis-
sion between any pair of two parts. Taking an equipment for
example, the actual states collected by sensors, which would
reflect the real performances of the equipment, and the simulated
states yielded by virtual models, which indicate the expected
states, can be preliminarily selected for message transmission
between the physical entity-related and virtual model-related
data. Secondly, in the interest of data transmission, the data
is further processed by cleaning algorithms, dimensional-
ity reduction algorithms, and compaction algorithms, which
are intended to remove data noise, duplicate and redundancy.
Data is then transferred through communication interfaces of
sensing devices, software, and database in DT. Thirdly, the
consistency of connection data between two parts is evalu-
ated by calculating their Euclidean distance in real time. When
the distance exceeds a predefined threshold, which indicates
inconsistency/contradiction between connected parts, nec-
essary measures should be taken to restore consistency by
correcting parameters of the virtual model, updating service
configurations, or adjusting behaviors of the physical entity.
In short, DTD interaction plays important roles in driving the
synchronization among the physical entity, virtual model, and
service of DT.
Digital twin data association
Association relations among DTD are mined to support knowl-
edge discovery. Firstly, data obtained from the physical entity,
virtual model, and service is preprocessed through data filter-
ing, data reduction, and feature extraction in order to remove
irrelevant and useless data. Secondly, temporal and spatial
alignments are conducted. For example, the least squares method
can be used to synchronize data in time, and transform data
into the same coordinate system in space. Next, the relations
(e.g., causality, similarity, and complementation) among data are
mined by means of Pearson correlation analysis32, K-means33,
Apriori algorithm34, etc. A complex network can be built to fully
express these relations. In the network, various data variables
are regarded as nodes, whereas data association relations are
treated as edges. Based on this, further knowledge can be
deduced through, for instance, statistical method, clustering
method, and classification method, and the deduced knowl-
edge can be expressed in the form of knowledge graph. To sup-
port the subsequent data fusion, two kinds of data associations
are especially important, i.e., the similar relation and comple-
mentary relation. The former refers to the relation between
data with similar attributes, values or changing trends, whereas
the latter refers to the relation between multi-modal data from
Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021
multiple sources, which can describe the same attribute or
behavior from different perspectives.
Digital twin data fusion
Existing work on data fusion focuses primarily on the merg-
ing of data from the physical world (e.g., fusing sensor data
with manual data), while few efforts have been devoted to
fusing data from both the physical and virtual worlds35–37. In
contrast, DTD fusion involves a holistic merging of physical
entity-related data, virtual model-related data, service-related
data and domain knowledge. DTD fusion includes the follow-
ing aspects. In the case that the physical entity-related data
is disturbed by environment perturbations, sensor failures,
and human interferences, methods such as the weighted aver-
age method38, Dempster–Shafer theory39, and Kalman filter40
can be used to fuse the physical entity-related data with
similar virtual model-related data and service-related data
to minimize the information entropy. By doing so, the data
uncertainty, randomness, and fuzziness can be reduced. Like-
wise, in the case that the virtual model-related data and
service-related data deviate from the reality, methods such as
the Bayesian method41 and neural network42 can be used to
merge the data with similar physical entity-related data, as a
way, to improve accuracy and reliability. For the complementary
multi-modal data from different parts of DTD, methods
such as neural network42, and weighted average method38
can be used to increase information diversity.
Digital twin data evolution
DTD evolution is characterized by a dynamic process, through
which, new data is continuously added, processed, and then
fused with historical data. This process can be described by
the data relation network built based on the complex network.
When new data is incorporated into the network, new asso-
ciation relations are built between new data and historical data
through preprocessing new data, aligning new data with histori-
cal data, and then extracting association relations from aligned
data by using data mining algorithms, following by fusing
the new data with similar or complementary relations for data
correction and supplement. This process can be guided by an
automatic fusion mechanism to reduce the dependency on
manual labor. The notions of information entropy43 and network
features44 are employed to evaluate the effectiveness of data evo-
lution. For example, the quantity of information contained in
a network node can be measured by the information entropy.
By comparing the information entropy before and after the
fusion, the gain or loss of information can be evaluated. Mean-
while, the structure change of the network after each fusion can
be analyzed with respect to degree distribution, edge between-
ness, clustering coefficient, etc. In light of the evaluation
results over time, certain DTD evolution rules can be mined,
such as the rules for information transfer and the relations
between network structure and information distribution. In turn,
such rules can be used to guide the subsequent data fusions with
Page 8 of 18

respect to the selection of fusion data, methods, and mechanisms,
to ensure iterative optimization and information growth.
Digital twin data servitization
DTD servitization aims to enable users to access data through
on-demand services, including multiple aspects as follows45.
Firstly, various digital resources are encapsulated into services,
which have functions (e.g. data searching, processing, and
virtualization), inputs (e.g. data type, volume, and feature),
outputs (e.g. processed data and visual diagram), quality
(e.g. time, cost, and reliability), and states (e.g. working and
idle). Given a user demand (e.g., the query of equipment
status data, part remaining life data, and maintenance guidance
data), relevant services can be prescribed for data extraction,
processing, and visualization, etc., respectively. The separate
services can be then combined, in compliance with relevant
constraints (e.g., time and cost), towards an integrated service
solution. Related methods include demand decomposition,
similarity matching, multi-objective optimization, and so
forth45. With respect to the DTD visualization (i.e., a particular
form of DTD service), on top of the traditional visual
diagrams, virtual reality (VR)46 and augmented reality (AR)47
can be exploited to visualize the mapping relations between
the physical entity and virtual models. Finally, the integrated
services provide demanded results to users.
Key enabling technologies for digital twin data
As illustrated in Figure 4, the key enabling technologies for
DTD are explored based on the enabling technologies for DT
in general23 as well as the enabling technologies for digital
twin shop-floor (DTS) in particular48. Some main technologies
are explained as follows.
Figure 4. Key enabling technologies for digital twin data (DTD). AR, augmented reality; VR, virtual reality.
Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021
(1)   DTD gathering deals with rare-event data, extreme
environment data, multi-physics coupling data, etc. Since
such data is difficult to be measured directly, data gen-
eration based on simulation plays a crucial role. Multiple
technologies can be used to support the data generation.
The multidimensional modeling technology can be used to
build various virtual models that can generate data
concerning geometry, physics, behaviors, and rules. For
the scenario that the modeling data is insufficient, trans-
fer learning technology can be employed to enable the
modeling based on small sample data. The high-efficiency
simulation technology (e.g., metamodel49) can be used to
improve the efficiency of data generation, whereas it is
necessary to verify the accuracy of simulation data.
(2)   DTD storage deals with data with different structures,
formats, types, encapsulations, interfaces, etc. Related
technologies include unified data modeling technology
that can support data modeling and interoperability;
database management technology that can perform basic
data functions such as adding, deleting, changing, and
checking; data space expansion technology that can adapt
the continuously growing DTD; data integration technol-
ogy that can bridge data silos between different parts of
DTD; as well as various data security technologies.
(3)   With respect to data interaction, data collection technol-
ogy is required to collect connection data from differ-
ent parts of DTD by various means such as sensors and
data crawling. Dimensionality reduction technology can
be used to remove the redundant data. Data middleware
technology50 completes the transformations for data
Page 9 of 18

formats, interfaces, and communication protocols, and ensures
synchronous data transmission. Besides, data consistency
evaluation technology can be used to support data align-
ment, data distance calculation, and threshold selection for
consistency evaluation.
(4)   With respect to data association, related technologies include
spatial-temporal data alignment, data mining, knowledge
reasoning, knowledge representation, etc. Spatial-temporal
data alignment technology makes DTD synchronous in
time and in the same coordinate system in space. Data
mining algorithms (e.g., Pearson correlation analysis32,
K-means33, Apriori algorithm34) can make visible cluster-
ing groups and association relations among DTD. Knowl-
edge reasoning technology can be used to extract new
knowledge from the extracted relations and groups, or from
existing knowledge. Knowledge representation technology
(e.g., knowledge graph) can visually describe the knowledge,
knowledge carriers, and knowledge relations.
(5)   With respect to data fusion, related technologies include
anomaly detection, granularity transformation, heterogene-
ous data fusion, fault-tolerant technology, etc.51. Anomaly
detection technology can be employed to remove abnormal
data before fusion. Granularity transformation technology
can be used to transform data with different granularities
(e.g., sparse data and dense data, raw data and extracted fea-
tures, abstract symbols and concrete data)51 into the same
level. Multisource heterogeneous data fusion technology can
converge data with different attributes such as types, dimen-
sions, and sampling frequencies. Fault-tolerant technology
can be used to enhance the robustness of data fusion.
(6)   Data evolution deals with the iterative process of data
fusion. Complex network modeling technology can be used
to build the data network and update the network in light
of emerging data. Information measurement technology
can be used to evaluate information quantity, information
distribution, and information accumulation, based on
which, to evaluate the efficiency of data fusion. Propa-
gation dynamics modeling technology44 can analyze the
information transfer from individual data to fusion data,
which dynamically describes the information spread
process. In addition, rule extraction technology is used to
mine rules for selecting fusion data type, method and mech-
anism from the information growth, change and transfer
processes, which can facilitate the subsequent data fusion.
(7)   With respect to data servitization, related technologies
include resource encapsulation, demand decomposition,
multi-objective combinational optimization, data visuali-
zation based on VR and AR, etc. Resource encapsulation
technology can transform digital resources into services,
which can be described by tuples. Demand decomposition
technology can be used to decompose a complicated user
demand into specific sub-demands, which can facili-
tate the search of a specific service. Multi-objective
combinational optimization technology can be used to
Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021
integrate multiple services in light of conflicting objectives
(e.g., time, cost, and reliability). Data visualization based
on VR and AR can be used to present the relations among
data, virtual models, and physical entities in a more
intuitive manner.
Conclusions and future work
Data is a core driver for DT. This paper focuses on the DTD
that can be classified into physical entity-related data, vir-
tual model-related data, service-related data, domain knowl-
edge, fusion data, and connection data. The advent of DT
puts forward some new requirements on data in terms of data
gathering, mining, fusion, interaction, iterative optimization,
universality, and on-demand usage. Triggered by these require-
ments, seven basic principles are proposed to support the DTD
organization and processing. Guided by these principles, related
methods for DTD gathering, storage, interaction, association,
fusion, evolution, and servitization are discussed. Finally, the
key enabling technologies are discussed.
This paper provides some theoretical underpinnings for
DTD, which are imperative for the further promotion and
application of DT, to support more DT researchers to incor-
porate the DTD into their DT development process. When
it comes to a certain DT application scenario, the research-
ers are expected to analyze the data requirements according to
Section 1 (‘From data to digital twin data’) first. Then to sat-
isfy the requirements, related principles for DTD proposed
in Section 3 (‘Principles for digital twin data’) should be
observed. Under the guideline of the principles, researchers can
employ the corresponding methods and key enabling tech-
nologies explored in Section 4 (‘Methodology for digital twin
data’) and Section 5 (‘Key enabling technologies for digital
twin data’) for DTD gathering and processing. The above proc-
esses facilitate achieving more comprehensive and consistent
data, more abundant and deeper information, as well as
more convenient and standard data usage, which could bring
countless benefits to DT applications. For example, the
DTD-based prognosis would have higher accuracy in virtue
of the comprehensive data support. The DTD-based produc-
tion control can better align the practical process with the
simulated plan through the real-time data interaction. The
DTD-based product design could have higher efficiency due to
the efficient knowledge mining of key information for designers.
In the future, this work will continue to be enriched by
(1) applying the generic principles and methods to guide DTD
gathering and processing in practical applications, (2) refining
the principles and methods based on lessons learned from practi-
cal applications, for instance, further improving related process-
ing algorithms to better adapt to DTD, and (3) introducing
big data-related tools and platforms to support large-scale
DT applications, since in this case, the DTD, which is closely
related to real-time dynamic DT, also has the “4V” character
of big data (i.e. volume, variety, value and velocity).
Data availability
No data are associated with this article.
Page 10 of 18

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Digital Twin Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021

Open Peer Review

Current Peer Review Status:

Version 1

Reviewer Report 22 October 2021

https://doi.org/10.21956/digitaltwin.18742.r26810

© 2021 Nassehi A. This is an open access peer review report distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

Aydin Nassehi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

The paper presents an excellent overview of challenges and potential solutions to the issues
related to digital twin data. The authors should consider including references to the ISO23247
standard which would complement the presented work very nicely. In particular, Part 3 of the
document provides a standardised framework for digital representation of the elements in a
digital twin and Part 4 provides the framework to underpin information exchange in Digital Twins.

There are a few other well-cited references which contain digital twin data issues that should be
used in the paper to position the work better. These include:
○ Wagner et al. (2017)1 - Provides an overview of the Asset Administration Shell as an
interoperability wrapper that enables data transfer between the physical and digital
counterparts in a manner that virtualises the asset and allows various twins to
communicate in a similar manner.
 
○ Jones et al. (2020)2 - Provides a contextual framework for Virtual-Physical and Physical-
Virtual twinning to underpin the various purposes of data transfer and storage in Digital
Twins (an article of mine).
 
○ Boschert et al. (2016)3 - Provides a view of the Digital Twin and its data across the lifecycle of
a product and its production system that provides scope for the topic of discussion in the
presented paper.

References
1. Wagner C, Grothoff J, Epple U, Drath R, et al.: The role of the Industry 4.0 asset administration
shell and the digital twin during the life cycle of a plant. 2017 22nd IEEE International Conference on
Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation (ETFA). 2017. Publisher Full Text
2. Jones D, Snider C, Nassehi A, Yon J, et al.: Characterising the Digital Twin: A systematic literature
review. CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology. 2020; 29: 36-52 Publisher Full Text
3. Boschert S, Rosen R: Digital Twin—The Simulation Aspect. 2016. 59-74 Publisher Full Text

 
Page 13 of 18
Digital Twin Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021

Is the rationale for developing the new method (or application) clearly explained?
Yes

Is the description of the method technically sound?

Yes

Are sufficient details provided to allow replication of the method development and its use
by others?
No

If any results are presented, are all the source data underlying the results available to
ensure full reproducibility?
Yes

Are the conclusions about the method and its performance adequately supported by the
findings presented in the article?
Yes

Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.

Reviewer Expertise: AI in Manufacturing, Agent Based Modelling of Distributed System

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of
expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have
significant reservations, as outlined above.

Reviewer Report 18 October 2021

https://doi.org/10.21956/digitaltwin.18742.r26809

© 2021 Zhang Y. This is an open access peer review report distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.

Yicha Zhang
Mechanical Engineering and Design, Génie Mécanique et Conception, Campus de Sevenans,
Universite de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard, Sevenans, France

This paper tries to propose a new concept, DTD, to describe the related requirements, principles
and enabling techs. It is interesting in the attempt to draw a new DT data processing framework
or guideline. However, from reviewer's perspective on operation in practice, there are still some
places that are unclear and hard to follow.

1. There is no clear definition about DTD, but more about data classification in the context of DT. It
is possible to give a new definition to show the difference of data in the context of DT? The

 
Page 14 of 18
Digital Twin Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021

definition difference would focus on more about contents or format or application?

2. Is there an exact logic for the listing of DTD requirements? Mining is before or after fusion, or
both directions are possible?

3. It is hard to understand 'data interaction'. It is more similar to service as we often encountered

in IOT or CPS systems.

4. What exactly is 'iterative optimization'? As you mentioned in the paper: iterative optimization
refers to a cyclic process of “data increase - data fusion - information increase”, through which,
new data is fused with historical data to generate new information continuously. This means to
generate new data sets. It is more about data evolution? However, as you also mentioned in the
later section of the paper, 'optimization of DTD'. So, how to optimize DTD? What are the objective,
process and constraints?

5. The requirement of data universality seems an ideal solution in every domain. However, DT is
usually customized system. Hence, is there any conflict between this requirement with the
application? What does it mean by universality, contents or format?

6. What is fusion data, data of data (well structured and associated) or 'green data' (intermediate
data)?

7. Are the components of DTD organized in a hierarchical way or not?

Is the rationale for developing the new method (or application) clearly explained?
Yes

Is the description of the method technically sound?

Partly

Are sufficient details provided to allow replication of the method development and its use
by others?
Partly

If any results are presented, are all the source data underlying the results available to
ensure full reproducibility?
No source data required

Are the conclusions about the method and its performance adequately supported by the
findings presented in the article?
Partly

Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.

Reviewer Expertise: Digital design, planning & manufacturing, additive manufacturing, product-
service-system engineering

 
Page 15 of 18
Digital Twin Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of
expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have
significant reservations, as outlined above.

Reviewer Report 11 October 2021

https://doi.org/10.21956/digitaltwin.18742.r26808

© 2021 Zheng P. This is an open access peer review report distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.

Pai Zheng
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong
Kong, Hong Kong

In this paper, the authors provide a future prospect and couple of requirements of data
applications in the digital twin domain from structure, principle, and methodology views. With the
illustration, the potential coming research directions are summarized and pointed out. This topic
and corresponding learning areas are promising and worth investigating deeper.  

Here are some minor issues that may be considered for improving this paper:
1. In the third requirement of digital twin data, could you explain more on the seamless mean?
Such requirement is too blurry and what kind of performance do you want to achieve?
 
2. In the composition of digital twin data section, the explanation of the connection data is
provided theoretically. However, it lacks the intuitive example demonstration, therefore,
could more cases or concrete technologies be provided to help better understanding?
 
3. In the principle part, could more explanation of figure 2 be provided? What’s the serial
numbers and arrows in the figure mean? What do the different levels stand for in the
figure?
 
4. In figure 3, the quality of figures and expression way may be refined.
 
5. In key enabling technologies, some technologies concepts are adopted to enhance the
development of DTD. However, could the authors provide more technical/algorithm details
to achieve the corresponding goal/proposed performances?  

Is the rationale for developing the new method (or application) clearly explained?
Yes

Is the description of the method technically sound?

Yes

Are sufficient details provided to allow replication of the method development and its use

 
Page 16 of 18
Digital Twin Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021

by others?
Yes

If any results are presented, are all the source data underlying the results available to
ensure full reproducibility?
No source data required

Are the conclusions about the method and its performance adequately supported by the
findings presented in the article?
Partly

Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.

Reviewer Expertise: Smart manufacturing system, product-service systems, engineering design

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of
expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have
significant reservations, as outlined above.

Reviewer Report 07 October 2021

https://doi.org/10.21956/digitaltwin.18742.r26807

© 2021 Sun H. This is an open access peer review report distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.

Huibin Sun
School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China

Data plays critical roles in constructing virtual models, building cyber-physical connections, and
executing intelligent operations in digital twins. This paper explores some basic principles and
methods for digital twin data gathering, storage, interaction, association, fusion, evolution and
servitization, as well as the key enabling technologies. The theoretical underpinnings for DTD
proposed in this paper, are imperative for the further promotion and application of DT.

1. The barriers or challenges to digital twin data could be addressed.

2. If possible, an example or a scenario could be used to enhance the paper’s contributions.

Is the rationale for developing the new method (or application) clearly explained?
Yes

Is the description of the method technically sound?

Yes

 
Page 17 of 18
 Digital Twin Digital Twin 2021, 1:2 Last updated: 22 OCT 2021

Are sufficient details provided to allow replication of the method development and its use
by others?
Yes

If any results are presented, are all the source data underlying the results available to
ensure full reproducibility?
No source data required

Are the conclusions about the method and its performance adequately supported by the
findings presented in the article?
Yes

Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.

Reviewer Expertise: Digital twin

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of
expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard.

 
Page 18 of 18

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