Trusted and secure composite digital twin architecture for collaborative ecosystems

Digitalisation creates new opportunities for businesses to implement and manage collaborative ecosystems both internally and externally. Digital twin (DT) is a rapidly emerging technology that can be used to facilitate new models of interaction and sharing of information. DT is the digital version of a physical process or asset that can be used to model, manage, and optimise its physical counterpart. Connecting multiple DTs is vital to provide a holistic integration and view across complex ecosystems. To create a DT-based collaborative ecosystem architecture, the following concerns need to be addressed. Trust is a fundamental requirement because multiple parties will work together as part of a composite DT. Interoperability is essential, as DTs from various domains will be required to interconnect and operate seamlessly. Finally, the governance is challenging as different scenarios require various mechanisms and governance structures. This study presents an architecture to enable multiple DT-based collaborative ecosystems, and example use case scenarios to demonstrate its applicability in collaborative manufacturing.