Enterprise Information Systems

Digital Twins and Metaverse for Enterprise Information Systems and Industrial Informatics

About the issue

Industry 4.0 encompasses transformative technologies such as IoT, metaverse, digital twins, and cyber-physical systems (CPS). CPS integrates physical processes with their virtual counterparts to enable real-time monitoring, analysis, and decentralized decision-making. A digital twin (DT), at its core, is a digital representation of real-world entities or systems that replicates physical changes in real-time. This technology has been utilized in various contexts, including virtual reality, high-fidelity simulations, and emulation systems, with applications in optimization, monitoring, diagnostics, prognostics, and prescriptive analytics.

The concept of the digital twin originated from the idea of a digital factory, where the life cycle of assets or systems is digitally modeled using real-time operational data and other sources. Leading industries have successfully adopted digital twins to optimize processes, such as Ford Motor Company using them to refine design performance on assembly lines. Integrated software solutions that offer design, simulation, and visualization capabilities for virtual factories have also emerged. However, deploying digital twins remains challenging due to limitations in existing software solutions, leading to fragmented implementations and research initiatives focusing on different aspects of the problem.

For instance, some researchers propose the Product-Resource-Order-Staff Architecture (PROSOA) for digital twin control representation, while others use tools like Quest for physical simulation. These approaches aim to enhance collaboration and understanding among stakeholders while improving operational efficiency. Digital twins also play a pivotal role in condition-based maintenance (CBM), enabling predictive and preventive measures to minimize system downtime and maintenance costs. They allow precise problem detection, assessment of severity, and estimation of component lifecycles. Furthermore, the integration of digital twin simulations with physical experiments facilitates calibration, validation, and optimization, ensuring robust and cost-effective solutions.

The advent of the metaverse further amplifies the potential of digital twins by providing immersive and interactive environments for enterprise information systems and industrial informatics. The convergence of these technologies enables innovative applications in manufacturing, supply chain management, asset monitoring, and beyond.

This special issue aims to provide a premier international platform for scholars, researchers, industry practitioners, and academics to discuss and present cutting-edge advancements in integrating digital twins and the metaverse into enterprise information systems and industrial informatics. Contributions should focus on novel methodologies, frameworks, and practical applications that address real-world challenges and foster best practices in these domains.

Topics

• Industrial Data Communication Networks for Digital Twins
• Simulation of Network Communication Systems for Digital Twins and Metaverse
• Communication Architectures for Automotive Systems in Digital Twins and Metaverse
• Energy Management and Equipment Maintenance through Digital Twins
• Management and Optimization of Digital Process Twins
• Conceptual Modeling and Design of Digital Twins
• Framework Development for Digital Process Twins in Enterprise Systems
• Simulation Techniques for Digital Process Twins in Industrial Contexts
• What-If Process Analysis Using Digital Process Twins
• Quality Assurance and Validation of Digital Process Twins
• Enactment and Real-Time Deployment of Digital Process Twins
• Collaboration and Interaction Among Multiple Digital Process Twins
• Human-Digital Twin Interaction and Cooperative Systems
• Complex System Architectures for Digital Process Twins in Enterprise and Industrial Informatics
• Integration of Smart Grids, Smart Cities, and IoT with Digital Process Twins
• AI and Edge Computing Innovations for Digital Process Twins in Enterprise Systems
• Practical Validation and Case Studies of Digital Process Twins Applications
• Communication Accuracy Analysis in Digital Twins and Metaverse Environments
• Optimization of Communication Processing in Digital Twins and Metaverse Systems
• Control Network Architectures for Digital Twins and Metaverse Integration
• Distributed Sensing Networks Supporting Digital Twins and Metaverse Technologies
• Communication Quality Assurance in Digital Twins and Metaverse Applications
• Information Integration Strategies for Digital Twins and Metaverse in Enterprise Systems

Biographies of guest editors:

Brij B. Gupta is working as Director of International Center for AI and Cyber Security Research and Innovations, and Distinguished Professor with the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering (CSIE), Asia University, Taiwan. In more than 20 years of his professional experience, he published over 600 papers in journals/conferences including 35 books and 12 Patents with over 35,000 citations. He has received numerous national and international awards including Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship (2009), Faculty Research Fellowship Award (2017), MeitY, GoI, IEEE GCCE outstanding and WIE paper awards and Best Faculty Award (2018 & 2019), respectively. Prof. Gupta was selected for Clarivate Web of Science Highly Cited Researchers in Computer Science (top 0.1% researchers in the world) consecutively in 2022 and 2023. Also, he was also selected in Stanford University's ranking of the world's top 2% scientists consecutively in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, & 2024. He is also a visiting/adjunct professor with several universities worldwide. He is also an IEEE Senior Member (2017) and also selected as 2021 Distinguished Lecturer in IEEE CTSoc. Dr Gupta is also serving as Member-in-Large, Board of Governors, IEEE Consumer Technology Society (2022-2024). Prof Gupta is also leading IJSWIS, IJSSCI, STE and IJCAC as Editor-in-Chief. Moreover, he is also serving as lead-editor of a Book Series with CRC and IET press. He also served as TPC members in more than 150 international conferences also serving as Associate/Guest Editor of various journals and transactions. His research interests include information security, Cyber physical systems, cloud computing, blockchain technologies, intrusion detection, AI, social media and networking.

Nadia Nedjah received the Engineering degree in computer science and the M.Sc. degree in system engineering and computation from the University of Annaba, Algeria, and the Ph.D. degree in computation from The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester, U.K. She is currently a Professor with the Department of Electronics Engineering and Telecommunications, Faculty of Engineering, Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her research interests include functional programming, embedded systems, reconfigurable hardware design, and cryptography.

Kwok Tai Chui received the B.Eng. degree in electronic and communication engineering - Business Intelligence Minor and Ph.D. degree from City University of Hong Kong. He had industry experience as Senior Data Scientist in Internet of Things (IoT) company. He is with the Department of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, School of Science and Technology, Hong Kong Metropolitan University as Assistant Professor. He was the recipient of 2nd Prize Award (Postgraduate Category) of 2014 IEEE Region 10 Student Paper Contest. Also, he received Best Paper Award in IEEE The International Conference on Consumer Electronics-China, in both 2014 and 2015. He has published more than 100 research works including edited books, book chapters, journal papers, and conference papers. He has served as various editorial position in ESCI/SCIE-listed journals including Managing Editor of International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems, Topic Editor of Sensors, Associate Editor of International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management and International Journal of Energy Optimization and Engineering, Guest Editors of Future Generation Computer Systems, Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, Sustainability, Sensors, Energies, Applied Sciences and Journal of Internet Technology. His research interests include computational intelligence, data science, energy monitoring and management, intelligent transportation, smart metering, healthcare, machine learning algorithms and optimization.