A Distributed Twin System for Managing Asset-process Interactions in Highway Infrastructure Systems

Abstract

Highway agencies face challenges managing scattered asset data across maintenance processes and information systems, obstructing efficient retrieval of dynamic cross-system road information for timely interventions. This paper presents a Digital Twin (DT)-based data federation framework to effectively manage fragmented systems and dispersed data for highway infrastructure operation and maintenance. The framework middleware can decompose users’ queries and requests from different subsystems based on a metadata database and a distributed system architecture. The connected data ecosystem enables dynamic communication between different asset systems, ensuring efficient maintenance planning and process coordination between different users and teams. The presented framework is demonstrated based on datasets and synthesised systems conforming to asset management practices adopted by United Kingdom (UK) National Highways.