J. Pfeiffer, J. Zhang, B. Combemale, J. Michael, B. Rumpe, M. Wimmer, A. Wortmann: Towards a Unifying Reference Model for Digital Twins of Cyber-Physical Systems, Journal CoRR, Volume abs/2507.04871, 2025, Doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2507.04871
Digital twins are sophisticated software systems for the representation, monitoring, and control of cyber-physical systems, including automotive, avionics, smart manufacturing, and many more. Existing definitions and reference models of digital twins are overly abstract, impeding their comprehensive understanding and implementation guidance. Consequently, a significant gap emerges between abstract concepts and their industrial implementations. We analyze popular reference models for digital twins and combine these into a significantly detailed unifying reference model for digital twins that reduces the concept-implementation gap to facilitate their engineering in industrial practice. This enhances the understanding of the concepts of digital twins and their relationships and guides developers to implement digital twins effectively.