Grant: Idea to Innovation

The increasing dynamics and scale of connected industry systems pose significant challenges for their effective operation. Digital twins, as virtual models of physical systems, could assist human operators in real-time monitoring, comprehensive analysis, and responsive decision-making across diverse operational environments. However, as the heterogeneity and scale of these systems continue to grow, the processes for creating and using digital twins become more complex and cumbersome, limiting their potential applications in vertical industries. The primary objective of the NSERC I2I Phase I project is to accelerate technology transfer, prototype development and validation of our recent invention on multi-layered digital twins for managing highly complex systems through goal-oriented strategies. Proposed research, design and prototype implementation activities include heterogeneous data aggregation based on enriched attributes and multi-layered digital twin design for effective goal discovery and attainment. Supported by the proposed I2I project, key technical aspects of the subject technology-such as attribute-enriched data aggregation, adaptive digital twin construction, and situation-aware decision execution-will be implemented and validated. The prototype system's performance will be enhanced with procedures that adapt to diverse operational situations and goals, including adjusted model architecture, coordination, and goal discovery processes. The prototype's reliability will undergo rigorous evaluation through comprehensive lab testing in environments that simulate extreme system dynamics, scale and heterogeneity.