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Towards an Urban Digital Twins Continuum Architecture

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Software Architecture. ECSA 2023 Tracks, Workshops, and Doctoral Symposium (ECSA 2023)

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Abstract

In the era of smart cities, where the integration of Internet of Things devices and the need to efficiently manage urban environments have generated considerable interest, the Digital Twin concept emerges as a key solution. This technology allows us to study and simulate the behavior of complex urban dynamics. However, conventional Digital Twin architectures face significant challenges, such as limited scalability, inherent latency, and data privacy concerns stemming mainly from their centralized nature. In response to these challenges, this paper proposes an innovative distributed architecture for the so-called Urban Digital Twins, implemented on top of the Computing continuum. The main objective is to establish a more efficient and scalable framework, specifically designed for the demands of smart cities. To support the feasibility of this proposal, two case studies are presented: one focused on urban public transportation systems, and the other focused on a pollution monitoring system. These case studies illustrate how a distributed architecture can effectively address existing challenges, providing a solid foundation for the smart and sustainable management of urban environments.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been partially funded by grant DIN2020-011586, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union “Next GenerationEU/PRTR”, by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (projects PID2021-125527NB-I00, TED2021-130913B-I00, TED2021-130523B-I00, and PD C2022-133465-I00), by the Regional Ministry of Economy, Science and Digital Agenda of the Regional Government of Extremadura (GR21133) and the European Regional Development Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

    Sergio Laso, Javier Berrocal & Juan Manuel Murillo

  2. ITIS Software, Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain

    Lorenzo Toro-Gálvez, Javier Troya & Carlos Canal

Authors
  1. Sergio Laso
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  2. Lorenzo Toro-Gálvez
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  3. Javier Berrocal
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  4. Javier Troya
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  5. Carlos Canal
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  6. Juan Manuel Murillo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sergio Laso .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Bedir Tekinerdoğan

  2. Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

    Romina Spalazzese

  3. Ozyegin University, İstanbul, Türkiye

    Hasan Sözer

  4. University of Bergamo, Dalmine, Italy

    Silvia Bonfanti

  5. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Danny Weyns

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Laso, S., Toro-Gálvez, L., Berrocal, J., Troya, J., Canal, C., Manuel Murillo, J. (2024). Towards an Urban Digital Twins Continuum Architecture. In: Tekinerdoğan, B., Spalazzese, R., Sözer, H., Bonfanti, S., Weyns, D. (eds) Software Architecture. ECSA 2023 Tracks, Workshops, and Doctoral Symposium. ECSA 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14590. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66326-0_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66326-0_17

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