Building digital twins and generating models – a specific simulation tool approach

As any simulation practitioner knows, building simulation models that are applied in real context problems requires considerable time and knowledge. To outspread the applicability of models and extend their lifespan, we do so in layers by constructing customizable submodels, or digital objects that represent a concept of the real system, which we might call “digital twins” in the industry 4.0 nomenclature. In our experience of several real simulation projects, we report the development of these submodels that allowed building layered simulation models. To enable the use of simulation by the problem owners, we also developed some automatic simulation model generators. Furthermore, using Big Data concepts and technologies, it was also possible to adopt Big Data driven simulation models. Naturally, when trying to fulfill some of the most ambitious aims of Industry 4.0 (e.g., real-time) all the above mentioned approaches have different pros and cons. However, they share a limitation: they are tailored for specific commercial simulation tools. The use of professional simulation tools is very useful, albeit most are incompatible with each other. We share our systematic analysis of the most popular simulation tools for over a decade, from which it is clear that there is a need to pave the way for the universalization of digital submodels, making the advent of the concept of digital twins an opportunity to benefit more systems by the use of simulation and, perhaps, this way, be able to support “simulation 4.0”.

Luís Miguel da Silva Dias - Brief CV.

Luís Miguel da Silva Dias School of Engineering – University of Minho He completed the, five years, Degree in Systems Engineer and Computer Science in the University of Minho in 1993. He completed the MSc on Computer Science (Distributed Systems, Computer Communications and Advanced Architectures) with Dissertation on Visual Programming Languages in the University of Minho in 1997. He served the Portuguese Army in 1997. He completed his PhD in Systems Engineering and Industrial Processes with thesis in Modelling and Simulation in the University of Minho in 2005. He began his career at the University of Minho in 1996, as Junior Lecturer in the Production and Systems Department of the School of Engineering – where he had started as Teaching Assistant in the Computer Science Department from 1991 to 1995. In the academic field he had been lecturing Courses in the fields of Operational Research, Modelling, Simulation, Optimization, and Computer Science. His research activities are developed under the Industrial Engineering and Management Research Line of the ALGORITMI Research Centre, within the Supply-chain, Logistics and Transportation Systems (SLOTS) Research Group, with special interest in modelling and discrete event simulation, Traffic, Production Systems and Optimization In the development for industrial applications, he has been participating in several R&D projects supported by Portuguese Institutions and under European funding programmes - UH4SP – 017871, 117 430,00 €; INNOVCAR – 2797, 12 754 548,62 €; iFACTORY – 2814, 9 246 492,55 €; HMIExcel - 36265/2013, 5 110 000,00 €; GATOP - PTDC/EMEGIN /120761 /2010, 59 520,00 €. Being Head of the University of Minho promoter in the project UH4SP – Unified Hub for Smart Plants, and Head of the Line 22 - PLS (Production Line Simulation) of the project iFactory. He has supervised with success 2 PhD students, and dozens of MSc Dissertations. He has co-authored or authored above fifty ISI/Scopus indexed papers, mostly in the area of Discrete Event Simulation and Operations Research. He was vice-director of the Master Degree in Systems Engineer from 2012 to 2017 He was member member of the executive committee of the Degree in Computer Science from 2005 to 2016.