Computer Science Seminar - Dr. V. Etemadi, Shiraz University of Technology, Iran

Title: Digital twins for data-driven software engineering

Abstract:

A digital twin is a virtual model of a physical system, process, or product that effectively mirrors aspects of its real counterpart and consumes its data real-time. The usage of digital twins in the industry is growing rapidly, attracting the attention of industrial practitioners every day. There are applications for it in aerospace, product manufacturing, healthcare, internet of things (IoT), etc., and other sectors of the industry are also considering deploying this technology for their systems. Data-driven software engineering (DDSE) focuses on approaches that consume and possess software data to assist and automate software development, both in terms of the activities to be performed and the decisions to be taken. Digital twins can offer a new paradigm for organizing research in DDSE. Since DDSE follows a data-oriented approach and digital twins have strengths in working with real-time data and decision-making, it could open an era for new ways to perform DDSE and eventually put it into practice.

In this talk, I will begin with a brief explanation of digital twins and then continue with data-driven software engineering. We will then see how digital twins could offer DDSE a new viewpoint in terms of operationalization and practicalization. Finally, after exploring the potential of digital twins for DDSE, the talk will conclude by highlighting some of the practical limitations and challenges that should be considered when employing digital twins for target use cases, including DDSE.