Reconfigurable Digital Twin Framework for Manufacturing Systems

Abstract

Nowadays, modern manufacturing systems are becoming increasingly complex. They are exposed to more frequent and unpredictable risks of change and disruption, both external and internal. Reconfiguration is an important way for the manufacturing system to maintain stability, so we propose a reconfigurable digital twin system to enable it to cope with increasing uncertainty and instability. This paper investigates a unified description template for digital twin foundation components, enabling the fusion of digital objects at the layer of foundation components. On this basis, the methods for adjustment of internal and external changes are proposed. Also, a rapid development and simulation method based on reconfiguration strategies and similarity matching algorithms is proposed to support the reconfiguration of the digital twin. Finally, the proposed architecture is illustrated and validated with a case study of a manufacturing workshop for intelligent navigation vehicles.