Generative Digital Twins: Principles, Architecture, Methodology, and Applications

Prof. Giancarlo Fortino (Fellow of IEEE)

University of Calabria, Italy

Chair:  Prof. Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy               

            Room: "Aula Magna Orabona”

Abstract

Digital Twins (DTs) are software replicas that not only mirrors physical entities but can also proactively predict, control, optimize and simulate their behavior. Born in the manufacturing sector, this concept after an initial hype stayed untouched for decades. The rise of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled DT, respectively, to exchange real-world data and to fully exploit it for fulfilling its own goals. Very recently, Gener-ative AI (Gen-AI) methods started being sporadically applied to DT in different contexts and with different targets. In this talk,starting from our experiences on design,  implementation and evaluation of DTs and, more recently, of Opportunistic DTs, we first provide a definition for the Generative DT (GDT) which embraces main distinctive aspects and potential of current and future Gen-Al-aided DTs.

In particular, we disclose the role of Gen-AI in conciliating the model- and the data-driven approach for the development of DTs. Then, we analyze the added value of main Gen-AI architectures and development methodologies for maximizing the effectiveness and the performance of DTs operating in the IoT domain and deployed in the device-edge-cloud continuum.

Finally, we illustrate the potential of GDT in emblematic use cases in the Smart City, Smart Manufacturing, Smart Water Systems, Smart Robotics, Smart Educationand, more in general, in Smart IoT-driven domains.

Biography of Prof.  Giancarlo Fortino

Giancarlo Fortino (FIEEE‘22) is Professor of Computer Engineering at the DIMES Dept. of University of Calabria, Italy. He has a PhD in Systems and Computer Engineering from Unical in 2000. His research interests include wearable computing, IoT and applied artificial intelligence. He is Highly Cited Researcher 2020-2025 by Clarivate in Computer Science and has about 35000 citations and an h-index of 90 in GS. He is author of 800+ papers in top-level journals, conferences & book series. He is the founding series editor of the IEEE Press Book Series on Human-Machine Systems and AE of many premier IEEE Transactions/Journals. He is cofounder-CEO of SenSysCalSrl, Unical spinoff on IoT systems. Fortino is the Vice President of Cybernetics of the IEEE SMC society.