The Digital (Mission) Twin: an Integrating Concept for Future Adaptive Cyber-Physical-Human Systems

Top-down decomposition of a complex system of systems (SoS) requires representation of the behavior of multiple individuals and cyber-physical systems performing a wide variety of tasks, usually at different times and with different goals. In the future, as humans and machines learn and co-adapt in their mission context, systems engineering must develop approaches that support dynamic analysis and synthesis in both the design and operation of systems. The concept of a "digital (mission) twin" provides an integration framework for design and control of future complex cyberphysical-human SoS. The framework builds on mission function task (MFT) analysis, providing a basis for modelbased systems engineering (MBSE) activities to identify and address needs for automation or other forms of advanced technology that improve overall system performance. However, human-driven adaptation and eventually machine adaptation of complex SoS poses organizational and methodological challenges. We discuss the need for and opportunities for convergence of three often segregated SE methodologies: product engineering, human systems integration, and mission/operations analysis by expanding the product or process engineering view of a digital twin to the mission level. In the present this gives us a framework to analyze and specify automation and adaptation opportunities at the mission level. In the future we envision this twin continuously operates with the real systems to manage both emergent mission conditions and lifecycle adaptation. We applied this framework to a complex military mission using a case where artificial intelligence can be incorporated widely across a set of mission tasks to significantly improve performance.