Digital twin: benefits, use cases, challenges, and opportunities
Open accessAbstract
Applications of Digital Twin technology have been growing at an exponential rate, and it is transforming the way businesses operate. In the past few years, Digital Twins leveraged vital business applications, and it is predicted that the technology will expand to more applications, use cases, and industries. The purpose of this paper is to do a literature review and explore how Digital Twins streamline intelligent automation in different industries. This paper defines the concept, highlights the evolution and development of Digital Twins, reviews its key enabling technologies, examines its trends and challenges, and explores its applications in different industries.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Attaran et al. explained that the DT technique incorporates four technologies to acquire and store real-time data, extract details, and build a virtual model: XR, AI, IoT, and Storage (Cloud).
“But, Attaran et al. [48] explained that the DT technique incorporates a combination of four technologies to acquire and store real-time data, extract details to provide meaningful insights, and build a virtual model of an actual entity.The technologies above encompass the Extended Reality (XR), AI, IoT, and Storage (Cloud).”
From Digital Twins in the IIoT: Current Practices and Future Directions Toward Industry 5.0 (2025) · cites this paper as [48]
Cites
Digital Twin in Industry: State-of-the-Art
Tao, F., Zhang, H., Liu, A., & Nee, A. Y. C. (2019) · IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics · doi:10.1109/tii.2018.2873186 · Cited by 4,391 · see citing works
Digital Twin: Mitigating Unpredictable, Undesirable Emergent Behavior in Complex Systems
Grieves, M., & Vickers, J. (2017) · Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Complex Systems · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-38756-7_4 · Cited by 3,727 · see citing works
Digital Twin in manufacturing: A categorical literature review and classification
Kritzinger, W., Karner, M., Traar, G., Henjes, J., & Sihn, W. (2018) · IFAC-PapersOnLine · doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2018.08.474 · Cited by 3,612 · see citing works
Digital twin: Enabling technologies, challenges and open research
Fuller, A., Fan, Z., Day, C., & Barlow, C. (2020) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2020.2998358 · Cited by 2,965 · see citing works
Digital twin-driven product design, manufacturing and service with big data
Tao, F., Cheng, J., Qi, Q., Zhang, M., Zhang, H., & Sui, F. (2018) · The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology · doi:10.1007/s00170-017-0233-1 · Cited by 2,920 · see citing works
Characterising the Digital Twin: A systematic literature review
Jones, D., Snider, C., Nassehi, A., Yon, J., & Hicks, B. (2020) · CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology · doi:10.1016/j.cirpj.2020.02.002 · Cited by 2,422 · see citing works
Digital twin: values, challenges and enablers from a modeling perspective
Rasheed, A., San, O., & Kvamsdal, T. (2020) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2020.2970143 · Cited by 1,952 · see citing works
Digital twin and big data towards smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0: 360 degree comparison
Qi, Q., & Tao, F. (2018) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2018.2793265 · Cited by 1,716 · see citing works
Enabling technologies and tools for digital twin
Qi, Q., Tao, F., Hu, T., Anwer, N., Liu, A., Wei, Y., Wang, L., & Nee, A. Y. C. (2021) · Journal of Manufacturing Systems · doi:10.1016/j.jmsy.2019.10.001 · Cited by 1,579 · see citing works
About The Importance of Autonomy and Digital Twins for the Future of Manufacturing
Rosen, R., von Wichert, G., Lo, G., & Bettenhausen, K. D. (2015) · IFAC-PapersOnLine · doi:10.1016/j.ifacol.2015.06.141 · Cited by 1,474 · see citing works
Shaping the digital twin for design and production engineering
Schleich, B., Anwer, N., Mathieu, L., & Wartzack, S. (2017) · CIRP Annals · doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2017.04.040 · Cited by 1,305 · see citing works
Digital Twin—The Simulation Aspect
Boschert, S., & Rosen, R. (2016) · Mechatronic Futures · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32156-1_5 · Cited by 1,158 · see citing works
Digital twin-driven product design framework
Tao, F., Sui, F.-Y., Liu, A., Qi, Q., Zhang, M., Song, B.-Y., Guo, Z.-R., Lu, S. C. Y., & Nee, A. (2019) · International Journal of Production Research · doi:10.1080/00207543.2018.1443229 · Cited by 1,085 · see citing works
Review of digital twin applications in manufacturing
Cimino, C., Negri, E., & Fumagalli, L. (2019) · Computers in Industry · doi:10.1016/j.compind.2019.103130 · Cited by 874 · see citing works
Tang, S., Shelden, D., Eastman, C. M., Pishdad-Bozorgi, P., & Gao, X. (2019) · Automation in Construction · doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2019.01.020 · Cited by 859 · see citing works
Customer experience challenges: Bringing together digital, physical and social realms
Bolton, R. N., McColl-Kennedy, J. R., Cheung, L., Gallan, A., Orsingher, C., Witell, L., & Zaki, M. (2018) · Journal of Service Management · doi:10.1108/josm-04-2018-0113 · Cited by 849 · see citing works
Digital Twins: The Convergence of Multimedia Technologies
El Saddik, A. (2018) · IEEE MultiMedia · doi:10.1109/mmul.2018.023121167 · Cited by 817 · see citing works
A Novel Cloud-Based Framework for the Elderly Healthcare Services Using Digital Twin
Liu, Y., Zhang, L., Yang, Y., Zhou, L., Ren, L., Wang, F., Liu, R., Pang, Z., & Deen, M. J. (2019) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2019.2909828 · Cited by 763 · see citing works
Digital twin application in the construction industry: A literature review
Opoku, D.-G. J., Perera, S., Osei-Kyei, R., & Rashidi, M. (2021) · Journal of Building Engineering · doi:10.1016/j.jobe.2021.102726 · Cited by 753 · see citing works
Digital twins in smart farming
Verdouw, C., Tekinerdoğan, B., Beulens, A., & Wolfert, S. (2021) · Agricultural Systems · doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2020.103046 · Cited by 634 · see citing works
Predictive maintenance using digital twins: A systematic literature review
van Dinter, R., Teki̇nerdoğan, B., & Catal, C. (2022) · Information and Software Technology · doi:10.1016/j.infsof.2022.107008 · Cited by 622 · see citing works
Construction with digital twin information systems
Sacks, R., Brilakis, I., Pikas, E., Xie, H. S., & Girolami, M. (2020) · Data-Centric Engineering · doi:10.1017/dce.2020.16 · Cited by 609 · see citing works
Towards the future of smart electric vehicles: Digital twin technology
Bhatti, G., Mohan, H., & Singh, R. R. (2021) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2021.110801 · Cited by 547 · see citing works
Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Complex Systems
Alves, A., Flumerfelt, S., & Kahlen, F.-J. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-38756-7 · Cited by 545 · see citing works
Deng, M., Menassa, C., & Kamat, V. (2021) · Journal of Information Technology in Construction · doi:10.36680/j.itcon.2021.005 · Cited by 448 · see citing works
Digital twin driven human–robot collaborative assembly
Bilberg, A., & Malik, A. A. (2019) · CIRP Annals · doi:10.1016/j.cirp.2019.04.011 · Cited by 401 · see citing works
Francisco, A., Mohammadi, N., & Taylor, J. E. (2019) · Journal of Management in Engineering · doi:10.1061/(asce)me.1943-5479.0000741 · Cited by 326 · see citing works
Digital Twins in Agriculture: A State-of-the-art review
Purcell, W., & Neubauer, T. (2022) · Smart Agricultural Technology · doi:10.1016/j.atech.2022.100094 · Cited by 303 · see citing works
Yang, J., Park, M.-W., Vela, P. A., & Golparvar‐Fard, M. (2015) · Advanced Engineering Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.aei.2015.01.011 · Cited by 296 · see citing works
CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering
The International Academy for Production Engineering (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-662-53120-4 · Cited by 286 · see citing works
Mohammadi, N., & Taylor, J. E. (2017) · IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI) · doi:10.1109/ssci.2017.8285439 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
Alizadehsalehi, S., & Yitmen, İ. (2021) · Smart and Sustainable Built Environment · doi:10.1108/sasbe-01-2021-0016 · Cited by 244 · see citing works
Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems
(2014) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/c2009-0-03584-3 · Cited by 241 · see citing works
Attaran, M., & Attaran, S. (2007) · Business Process Management Journal · doi:10.1108/14637150710752308 · Cited by 224 · see citing works
Self-citationMES-integrated digital twin frameworks
Negri, E., Berardi, S., Fumagalli, L., & Macchi, M. (2020) · Journal of Manufacturing Systems · doi:10.1016/j.jmsy.2020.05.007 · Cited by 213 · see citing works
Modular based flexible digital twin for factory design
Guo, J., Zhao, N., Sun, L., & Zhang, S. (2018) · Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing · doi:10.1007/s12652-018-0953-6 · Cited by 205 · see citing works
Digital Twins Driven Supply Chain Visibility within Logistics: A New Paradigm for Future Logistics
Moshood, T. D., Nawanir, G., Sorooshian, S., & Okfalisa, O. (2021) · Applied System Innovation · doi:10.3390/asi4020029 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
Literature review of digital twins applications in construction workforce safety
Hou, L., Wu, S., Zhang, G. (., Tan, Y., & Wang, X. (2020) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app11010339 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Havard, V., Jeanne, B., Lacomblez, M., & Baudry, D. (2019) · Production & Manufacturing Research · doi:10.1080/21693277.2019.1660283 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Digital twin applications in aviation industry: A review
Xiong, M., & Wang, H. (2022) · The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology · doi:10.1007/s00170-022-09717-9 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Karan, E. P., & Irizarry, J. (2015) · Automation in Construction · doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2015.02.012 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Towards next generation cyber-physical systems and digital twins for construction
Akanmu, A., Anumba, C., & Ogunseiju, O. O. (2021) · Journal of Information Technology in Construction · doi:10.36680/j.itcon.2021.027 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Benedictis, A. D., Mazzocca, N., Somma, A., & Strigaro, C. (2022) · IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics · doi:10.1109/jbhi.2022.3205506 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Digital Twin for Machining Tool Condition Prediction
Qiao, Q., Wang, J., Ye, L.-K., & Gao, R. (2019) · Procedia CIRP · doi:10.1016/j.procir.2019.04.049 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Cloud-integrated cyber-physical systems for complex industrial applications
Shu, Z., Wan, J., Zhang, D., & Li, D. (2016) · Mobile Networks and Applications · doi:10.1007/s11036-015-0664-6 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Kang, Z., Catal, C., & Teki̇nerdoğan, B. (2021) · Sensors · doi:10.3390/s21030932 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
A digital twin for smart farming
Alves, R. G., Souza, G., Maia, R., Tran, A., Kamienski, C., Soininen, J., Aquino, P., & Lima, F. (2019) · IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference · doi:10.1109/ghtc46095.2019.9033075 · Cited by 113 · see citing works
Lv, Z., & Xie, S. (2024) · Digital Twin · doi:10.12688/digitaltwin.17524.2 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Digital Twin for Drug Discovery and Development—The Virtual Liver
Subramanian, K. (2020) · Journal of the Indian Institute of Science · doi:10.1007/s41745-020-00185-2 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Systems Architecture Design Pattern Catalog for Developing Digital Twins
Tekinerdoğan, B., & Verdouw, C. (2020) · Italian National Conference on Sensors · doi:10.3390/s20185103 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Warke, V., Kumar, S., Bongale, A., & Kotecha, K. (2021) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su131810139 · Cited by 103 · see citing works
Digital twin for integration of design-manufacturing-maintenance: an overview
Fu, Y., Zhu, G., Zhu, M., & Xuan, F. (2022) · Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering · doi:10.1186/s10033-022-00760-x · Cited by 98 · see citing works
Review of Smart Health Monitoring Approaches With Survey Analysis and Proposed Framework
Gahlot, S., Reddy, S. R. N., & Kumar, D. (2018) · IEEE Internet of Things Journal · doi:10.1109/jiot.2018.2872389 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Geng, R., Li, M., Hu, Z.-Y., Han, Z., & Zheng, R. (2022) · Structural And Multidisciplinary Optimization · doi:10.1007/s00158-022-03426-3 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
The Internet of Things: Limitless Opportunities for Business and Society
Attaran, M. (2017) · Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Self-citationDigital power grid based on digital twin: Definition, structure and key technologies
Bai, H., & Wang, Y. (2022) · Energy Reports · doi:10.1016/j.egyr.2022.10.328 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Борисович, Л. В., Skobelev, P. O., Лахин, О. И., Grachev, S., Yalovenko, V., & Yalovenko, O. (2019) · Cybernetics and Physics · doi:10.35470/2226-4116-2019-8-4-257-261 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Service Orientation in Holonic and Multi-Agent Manufacturing
Borangiu, T., Trentesaux, D., Thomas, A., et al. (2018) · Studies in computational intelligence · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73751-5 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Digital twinning [virtual reality avatars]
Ross, D. (2016) · Engineering & Technology · doi:10.1049/et.2016.0403 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Blockchain Technology to Ensure Traceability of Agriculture Supply Chain Management
Hasan, I., & Habib, M. M. (2022) · International Supply Chain Technology Journal · doi:10.20545/isctj.v08.i09.01 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Digital Twin and Shadow in Smart Pork Fetteners
Erdélyi, V., & Jánosi, L. (2019) · International Journal of Engineering and Management Sciences · doi:10.21791/ijems.2019.1.63 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Blomkvist, Y., & Loenbom, L. U. (2020) · KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) · Cited by 11 · see citing works
50 Years Ago: “Houston, We’ve Had a Problem”
Mars, K. (2020) · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Digital twins and industrial internet of things: uncovering operational intelligence in Industry 4.0
Attaran, S., Attaran, M., & Celik, B. G. (2024) · Decision Analytics Journal · doi:10.1016/j.dajour.2024.100398 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Self-citationDigital Twins for Healthcare Using Wearables
Johnson, Z., & Saikia, M. J. (2024) · Bioengineering · doi:10.3390/bioengineering11060606 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
A review of drivers and barriers of Digital Twin adoption in building project development processes
Jahangir, M. F., Schultz, C. P. L., & Kamari, A. (2024) · Journal of Information Technology in Construction · doi:10.36680/j.itcon.2024.008 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Digital Twins in the IIoT: Current Practices and Future Directions Toward Industry 5.0
Mon, B. F., Hayajneh, M., Ali, N. A., Ullah, F., Ullah, H., & Alkobaisi, S. (2025) · Computers, Materials & Continua · doi:10.32604/cmc.2025.061411 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
“But, Attaran et al. [48] explained that the DT technique incorporates a combination of four technologies to acquire and store real-time data, extract details to provide meaningful insights, and build a virtual model of an actual entity.”
- Authors
- Attaran, M., & Celik, B. G.
- Affiliations
- California State University, Bakersfield (US)
- Corresponding author
- Attaran, Mohsen
- ORCID
- Attaran, Mohsen
- Venue
- Decision Analytics Journal
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-03
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 100165
- ISSN
- 2772-6622 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4317632579
- Cited by
- 704
- References
- 64
- Citations by year
- 2026: 187 · 2025: 256 · 2024: 189 · 2023: 72
- FWCI
- 93.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Decision Analytics Journal (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Roger Williams University - Digital Commons (Roger Williams University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering › Digital Transformation in Industry
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Digital Innovation in Industries
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Impact of AI and Big Data on Business and Society
- Keywords
- digital twin, intelligent automation, industrial applications, enabling technologies, industrial adoption
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review