Library Structure & Basic Concepts

The WLDT framework intends to maximize modularity, re-usability and flexibility in order to effectively mirror physical smart objects in their digital counterparts. The proposed library focuses on the simplification of twins design and development aiming to provide a set of core features and functionalities for the widespread adoption of Internet of Things DTs applications.

A WLDT instance is a general purpose software entity implementing all the features and functionalities of a Digital Twin running in cloud or on the edge. It has the peculiar characteristic to be generic and ``attachable’’ to any physical thing in order to impersonate and maintain its digital replica and extend the provided functionalities for example through the support of additional protocols or a specific translation or normalization for data and formats.

Hereafter, the requirements that led the design and development of the WLDT framework are:

• i) Simplicity - with WLDT developers must have the possibility to easily create a new instance by using existing modules or customizing the behavior according the need of their application scenario;
• ii) Extensibility - while WLDT must be as simple and light as possible, the API should be also easily extendible in order to let programmers to personalize the configuration and/or to add new features loading and executing multiple modules at the same times;
• iii) Portability & Micorservice Readiness - a digital twin implemented through WLDT must be able to run on any platform without changes and customization. Our goal is to have a simple and light core engine with a strategic set of IoT-oriented features allowing the developer to easily create DT applications modeled as independent software agents and packed as microservices.

In the following Figure, the main components that make up the architecture of WLDT are represented, and thus through which the individual Digital Twin is implemented. Specifically, from the image it is possible to identify the three levels on which the architecture is developed: the one related to the core of the library, the one that models the DT, and finally, that of the adapters.

Each of this core components has the following main characteristics:

• Metrics Manager: Provides the functionalities for managing and tracking various metrics within DT instances combining both internal and custom metrics through a flexible and extensible approach.
• Logger: Is designed to facilitate efficient and customizable logging within implemented and deployed DTs with configurable log levels and versatile output options.
• Utils & Commons: Hold a collection of utility classes and common functionalities that can be readily employed across DT implementations ranging from handling common data structures to providing helpful tools for string manipulation.
• Event Communication Bus: Represents the internal Event Bus, designed to support communication between the different components of the DT’s instance. It allows defining customized events to model both physical and digital input and outputs. Each WLDT’s component can publish on the shared Event Bus and define an Event Filter to specify which types of events it is interested in managing, associating a specific callback to each one to process the different messages.
• Digital Twin Engine: Defines the multi-thread engine of the library allowing the execution and monitoring of multiple DTs (and their core components) simultaneously. Therefore, it is also responsible for orchestrating the different internal modules of the architecture while keeping track of each one, and it can be considered the core of the platform itself allowing the execution and control of the deployed DTs. Currently, it supports the execution of twins on the same Java process, however the same engine abstraction might be used to extend the framework to support distributed execution for example through different processes or microservices.
• Digital Twin: Models a modular DT structure built through the combination of core functionalities together with physical and digital adapter capabilities. This Layer includes the Digital Twin State responsible to structure the state of the DT by defining the list of properties, events, and actions. The different instances included in the lists can correspond directly to elements of the physical asset or can derive from their combination, in any case, it is the Shadowing Function (SF) that defines the mapping, following the model defined by the designer. This component also exposes a set of methods to allow SF manipulation. Every time the Digital Twin State is modified, the latter generates the corresponding DT’s event to notify all the components about the variation.
• Shadowing Function: It is the library component responsible for defining the behavior of the Digital Twin by interacting with the Digital Twin State. Specifically, it implements the shadowing process that allows keeping the DT synchronized with its physical entity. This component is based on a specific implementation of a WLDT Worker called Model Engine, in order to be executed by the WLDT Engine. The Shadowing Model Function is the fundamental component that must be extended by the DT designer to concretize its model. The shadowing function observes the life cycle of the Digital Twin to be notified of the different state changes. For example, it is informed when the DT enters the Bound state, i.e. when its Physical Adapters have completed the binding procedure with the physical asset. This component also allows the designer to define the behavior of the DT in case a property is modified, an event is triggered, or an action is invoked.
• Physical Adapter: It defines the essential functionalities that the individual extensions, related to specific protocols, must implement. As provided by the DT definition, a DT can be equipped with multiple Physical Adapters in order to manage communication with the corresponding physical entity. Each will produce a Physical Asset Description (PAD), i.e., a description of the properties, events, actions, and relationships that the physical asset exposes through the specific protocol. The DT transitions from the Unbound to the Bound state when all its Physical Adapters have produced their respective PADs. The Shadowing Function, following the DT model, selects the components of the various PADs that it is interested in managing.
• Digital Adapter: It provides the set of callbacks that each specific implementation can use to be notified of changes in the DT state. Symmetrically to what happens with Physical Adapters, a Digital Twin can define multiple Digital Adapters to expose its state and functionality through different protocols.
• Storage Layer: The storage layer has been integrated into the core library with the aim to enable a manual or automatic storage of data related to the evolution of Digital Twins state, the associated generated and processed events, and any variations involving properties, events, actions, relationships, and life cycle.

Therefore, to create a Digital Twin using WLDT, it is necessary to define and instantiate a DT with its Shadowing Function and at least one Physical Adapter and one Digital Adapter, in order to enable connection with the physical entity and allow the DT to be used by external applications. Once the 3 components are defined, it is possible to instantiate the WLDT Engine and, subsequently, start the lifecycle of the DT. In the following sections we will go through the fundamental steps to start working with the library and creating all the basic modules to design, develop and execute our first Java Digital Twin.