Digital twins are a virtual representation of a production system synchronized between the virtual and the real system, able to run different analytics based on sensed data and connected smart devices, optimized real-time communication protocols, and mathematical models. Industry 4.0 manufacturing paradigms exploit these features to forecast and optimize the behavior of the production system at each life cycle phase in real-time. Keeping interoperability and modularity at the core, VirMan project aims at the development of structural and functional semantic-based information models in order to build a digital twin for the virtual plant, assets or manufacturing process. Further tasks equip it with novel and real-time connectivity infrastructure and connected smart devices, setting up the data storage and processing environment, developing optimized artificial intelligence modules to analyze a large amount of data and developing advanced plant monitoring and predictive maintenance functionality, and visualization modules for reporting, real-time monitoring, and warning. The project outcomes include interoperable software and hardware modules for digital twin of a manufacturing plant based on ISA 95 and Industry 4.0 standards. TUK develops data-driven control, condition-monitoring and predictive maintenance algorithms in a use-case with the large water production enterprise Brandenburger Ustromquelle.

This work is supported by EUREKABundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur
Timespan: May 2021 - April 2023