Conceptual Architecture for the Provision and Aggregation of Universal Digital Twins within Containerization Environments

Digital Twins (DTs) are technological cutting-edge enablers for future industrial revolutions. Intelligent behavior is nevertheless not often granted to them so that DTs are tied as passive data representations organized in repository-like structures. In order to create intrinsic value, intelligent structures, and approaches must be established leveraging DTs through intelligence and autonomy. The concept can be easily transferred to other application domains, which offers particular advantages for use-case-independent architecture developments. This paper elaborates on a methodology for creating DTs device independently deployed on arbitrary computing nodes with variable configurations tailored to its specific requirements. A learning capability is induced by the migration and adoption of new intelligent code components. After requirements on DTs are derived, a conceptual architecture is outlined. A partial implementation substantiates the feasibility of the presented structure.