Virtual commissioning is a key technology in Industry 4.0 that can address issues faced by engineers during early design phases. The process of virtual commissioning involves the creation of a Digital Twin—a dynamic, virtual representation of a corresponding physical system. The digital twin model can be used for testing and verifying the control system in a simulated virtual environment to achieve rapid set-up and optimization prior to physical commissioning. Additionally, the modular production control systems, can be integrated and tested during or prior to the construction of the physical system. This paper describes the implementation of a digital twin emulator of an automated mechatronic modular production system that is linked with the running programmable logic controllers and allow for exchanging near real-time information with the physical system. The development and deployment of the digital twin emulator involves a novel hybrid simulation- and data-driven modeling approach that combines Discrete Event Simulation and Agent Based Modeling paradigms. The Digital Twin Emulator can support design decisions, test what-if system configurations, verify and validate the actual behavior of the complete system off-line, test realistic reactions, and provide statistics on the system’s performance.

虚拟调试是工业4.0中的一项关键技术，可以解决工程师在早期设计阶段所面临的问题。虚拟调试过程涉及创建Digital Twin（数字孪生），即相应物理系统的动态虚拟表示。数字孪生模型可用于在模拟虚拟环境中测试和验证控制系统，以在物理调试之前实现快速设置和优化。另外，模块化生产控制系统可以在物理系统构建期间或之前进行集成和测试。本文介绍了自动化机电一体化生产系统的数字孪生仿真器的实现，该系统与正在运行的可编程逻辑控制器链接，并允许与物理系统交换近乎实时的信息。数字孪生仿真器的开发和部署涉及一种新颖的混合仿真和数据驱动建模方法，该方法结合了离散事件仿真和基于Agent的建模范例。Digital Twin Emulator可支持设计决策，测试假设系统配置，离线验证和验证整个系统的实际行为，测试实际反应以及提供有关系统性能的统计信息。数字孪生仿真器的开发和部署涉及一种新颖的混合仿真和数据驱动建模方法，该方法结合了离散事件仿真和基于Agent的建模范例。Digital Twin Emulator可支持设计决策，测试假设系统配置，离线验证和验证整个系统的实际行为，测试实际反应以及提供有关系统性能的统计信息。数字孪生仿真器的开发和部署涉及一种新颖的混合仿真和数据驱动建模方法，该方法结合了离散事件仿真和基于Agent的建模范例。Digital Twin Emulator可支持设计决策，测试假设系统配置，离线验证和验证整个系统的实际行为，测试实际反应以及提供有关系统性能的统计信息。