PostDoc Project
Title:
Design and Synchronization of Digital Twins
Dates:
2026/06/22 - 2027/06/21
Student:
Supervisor(s):
Description:
This postdoctoral research topic is part of a broader digital transformation initiative targeting the industrial manufacturing and inspection processes of piping systems at Fives Nordon. Operations carried out both in workshops and on construction sites still rely heavily on manual or semi-automated activities, involving complex management of physical flows, production data, and inspection operations. In this context, the industrial challenges relate to improving operational monitoring, manufacturing traceability, real-time workshop supervision, anticipation of malfunctions, and decision support for operational control.
To address these challenges, the approach proposed by the CRAN consists in developing a workshop and construction-site digital twin through the design and implementation of a digital twin connected to the real piping manufacturing system of Fives Nordon. The objective is to provide a digital model enabling decision support at several levels:
* evaluation of workshop layout and workstation organization scenarios in order to estimate predictive production indicators,
* monitoring of the workshop state and products currently under manufacturing,
* prediction of future workshop states,
* evaluation of possible corrective actions in the event of detected malfunctions.
The research will build upon recent work related to digital twins, Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), cyber-physical systems, real/virtual synchronization, industrial simulation, and architectures compliant with the ISO 23247 standard.
Positioning of the Topic within the Overall Project
The postdoctoral research will directly contribute to the design of simulation-oriented digital twin engineering methods and will propose methodologies for synchronization between the real system and the digital model, taking into account geolocation and operation-tracking data.
The work lies at the intersection of several scientific and technological challenges related to workshop modeling and simulation, real-time synchronization mechanisms, and decision support for industrial control. In particular, the research will leverage localization solutions also developed within CRAN, as well as existing demonstrators.
Scientific Objectives
The overall objective of the postdoctoral research is to propose an engineering methodology for a simulation-oriented workshop digital twin connected to the real production system.
A first objective is to formalize a generic systems engineering approach for digital twins. The work will therefore aim at defining a method for identifying workshop control needs, determining the data required for the digital twin operation, specifying synchronization requirements, and defining the functional and informational architecture of the digital twin. The twin will integrate production flows, resource states, localization data, work-in-progress products, as well as information originating from equipment and operators. The goal is to build a simulation model capable of representing the current state of the workshop, anticipating short-term evolutions, and evaluating different control scenarios. Particular attention will be paid to model structuring using MBSE approaches.
The second objective concerns the study of synchronization mechanisms between the real system and its digital counterpart. Synchronization is indeed considered a central scientific challenge of the topic. The research will aim at defining digital twin update mechanisms, studying different levels of temporal synchronization, analyzing the impacts of latency, data loss, and desynchronization, and proposing consistency supervision mechanisms between the real system and the digital model. The developed approaches may rely on temporal and event-based models inspired by recent laboratory research on timed and stochastic automata, while also exploring surrogate model approaches obtained through machine learning.
Proposed Methodology
The proposed methodology will rely on several complementary research axes combining systems engineering, modeling, simulation, and experimental validation.
The work will begin with a phase dedicated to the analysis of operational and workshop control requirements. This stage will make it possible to identify physical and informational flows, define digital twin requirements, and structure models and architectures using MBSE and SysML approaches.
Another activity will focus on the state of the art and scientific monitoring of digital twin construction methods. The work will include an analysis of simulation-oriented architectures, synchronization approaches, as well as existing software solutions and standards. Particular attention will be paid to architectures compliant with ISO 23247, synchronization mechanisms, and MBSE engineering approaches applied to digital twins.
The modeling and simulation activities will then aim at building a workshop simulation model integrating resources, flows, and industrial operations. This model will have to be coupled with real-time data in order to enable updating and synchronization of the digital twin.
Finally, the developed solutions will be validated on the piping demonstrator through workshop control scenarios and evaluations of synchronization and supervision performance.
To address these challenges, the approach proposed by the CRAN consists in developing a workshop and construction-site digital twin through the design and implementation of a digital twin connected to the real piping manufacturing system of Fives Nordon. The objective is to provide a digital model enabling decision support at several levels:
* evaluation of workshop layout and workstation organization scenarios in order to estimate predictive production indicators,
* monitoring of the workshop state and products currently under manufacturing,
* prediction of future workshop states,
* evaluation of possible corrective actions in the event of detected malfunctions.
The research will build upon recent work related to digital twins, Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), cyber-physical systems, real/virtual synchronization, industrial simulation, and architectures compliant with the ISO 23247 standard.
Positioning of the Topic within the Overall Project
The postdoctoral research will directly contribute to the design of simulation-oriented digital twin engineering methods and will propose methodologies for synchronization between the real system and the digital model, taking into account geolocation and operation-tracking data.
The work lies at the intersection of several scientific and technological challenges related to workshop modeling and simulation, real-time synchronization mechanisms, and decision support for industrial control. In particular, the research will leverage localization solutions also developed within CRAN, as well as existing demonstrators.
Scientific Objectives
The overall objective of the postdoctoral research is to propose an engineering methodology for a simulation-oriented workshop digital twin connected to the real production system.
A first objective is to formalize a generic systems engineering approach for digital twins. The work will therefore aim at defining a method for identifying workshop control needs, determining the data required for the digital twin operation, specifying synchronization requirements, and defining the functional and informational architecture of the digital twin. The twin will integrate production flows, resource states, localization data, work-in-progress products, as well as information originating from equipment and operators. The goal is to build a simulation model capable of representing the current state of the workshop, anticipating short-term evolutions, and evaluating different control scenarios. Particular attention will be paid to model structuring using MBSE approaches.
The second objective concerns the study of synchronization mechanisms between the real system and its digital counterpart. Synchronization is indeed considered a central scientific challenge of the topic. The research will aim at defining digital twin update mechanisms, studying different levels of temporal synchronization, analyzing the impacts of latency, data loss, and desynchronization, and proposing consistency supervision mechanisms between the real system and the digital model. The developed approaches may rely on temporal and event-based models inspired by recent laboratory research on timed and stochastic automata, while also exploring surrogate model approaches obtained through machine learning.
Proposed Methodology
The proposed methodology will rely on several complementary research axes combining systems engineering, modeling, simulation, and experimental validation.
The work will begin with a phase dedicated to the analysis of operational and workshop control requirements. This stage will make it possible to identify physical and informational flows, define digital twin requirements, and structure models and architectures using MBSE and SysML approaches.
Another activity will focus on the state of the art and scientific monitoring of digital twin construction methods. The work will include an analysis of simulation-oriented architectures, synchronization approaches, as well as existing software solutions and standards. Particular attention will be paid to architectures compliant with ISO 23247, synchronization mechanisms, and MBSE engineering approaches applied to digital twins.
The modeling and simulation activities will then aim at building a workshop simulation model integrating resources, flows, and industrial operations. This model will have to be coupled with real-time data in order to enable updating and synchronization of the digital twin.
Finally, the developed solutions will be validated on the piping demonstrator through workshop control scenarios and evaluations of synchronization and supervision performance.
Department(s):
| Modelling and Control of Industrial Systems |