Digital Twin for Verification and Validation of Industrial Automation Systems - a Survey

Digital Twins will change how systems and products are engineered and operated. Individual virtual representations of assets help to develop, maintain and change single components or whole factories. Aerospace engineering, product design and intelligent manufacturing are hot spots for the use of Digital Twins. Simultaneously, globalized markets lead to a growing awareness of dependability and quality, which increases the importance of verification and validation. The Digital Twin could prove to be key enabler for efficient verification and validation processes. This paper presents the results of the literature review of approaches that use Digital Twins for verification and validation purposes. Many solutions have been found for a wide range of challenges in various fields of application. This survey discusses the underlying methods and the elements of Digital Twins already in use. Most research approaches focus on simulations and three methodological clusters of approaches sharing similar ideas were identified.