Advancing the development and validation of Digital Twins through Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) techniques to enhance the design, monitoring, and optimization of complex industrial systems.
Digital Twins (DTs) have emerged as pivotal tools in understanding and optimizing the behavior of cyber-physical systems. At the Institute of Business Informatics – Software Engineering (WIN-SE) at Johannes Kepler University Linz, our research focuses on leveraging Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) to address the challenges associated with the creation and maintenance of DTs.
One of our key projects, MATISSE, aims to provide a model-driven framework for the continuous engineering of federated digital twins, emphasizing traceability as an essential infrastructural service. Additionally, we’ve explored the alignment of heterogeneous models from different disciplines, the bi-directional synchronization between digital twins and physical systems, and collaborative development throughout the complete life-cycle of DTs.
Our research also delves into the modeling capabilities of existing digital twin platforms, comparing them with established modeling concepts to identify areas for improvement and standardization. Furthermore, we’ve proposed a product line architecture that explicitly specifies the different concerns of digital twins, facilitating the integration of various architectures and domain-specific languages.
For more information on our work or potential collaboration opportunities, please contact Manuel Wimmer or Stefan Klikovits.
Selected Publications:
• D. Lehner, J. Zhang, J. Pfeiffer, S. Sint, A.K. Splettstößer, M. Wimmer, A. Wortmann: “Model-driven engineering for digital twins: a systematic mapping study”. Int. Journal for Software and Systems Modeling (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-025-01264-7
• A. Bucaioni, R. Eramo, L. Berardinelli, H. Bruneliere, B. Combemale, D. Khelladi, V. Muttillo, A. Sadovykh, M. Wimmer: “Multi-Partner Project: A Model-Driven Engineering Framework for Federated Digital Twins of Industrial Systems (MATISSE)”, DATE 2025 – Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference, Lyon, France, March 31- April 2, 2025.
• J. Pfeiffer, D. Lehner, A. Wortmann, M. Wimmer: “Towards a Product Line Architecture for Digital Twins”, 20th IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA 2023), L’ Aquila, Italy, March 13-17, 2023.
• J. Pfeiffer, D. Lehner, A. Wortmann, M. Wimmer: “Modeling Capabilities of Digital Twin Platforms – Old Wine in New Bottles?”, 18th European Conference on Modelling Foundations and Applications, co-located with STAF 2022, Nantes, France, 6-7 July 2022.