Intelligent Digital Twins and Ethical Decision-Making Support

Digital Twins as virtual representation of physical objects and processes can influence both the development and runtime behavior of Cyber-Physical Systems. The concept of Intelligent Digital Twins aims to leverage both the frequency of synchronizing with the physical environment and the fidelity of informed behavior decisions. The basic capability of Intelligent Digital Twin models to represent and execute decision-making procedures can be enhanced with AI Agents. This development is enabled by modular software architectures used by Digital Twins that support assigning analytic tasks to their components. In these architectures, multiple components need to be identified according to their system functionality. Their interplay requires not only a networked structure, but also patterns to handle the complexity of Cyber-Physical Systems, such as heterogeneity, autonomy, and dynamic adaptability. This chapter reflects on a behavior-oriented design-integrated engineering approach and discusses how it supports ethical decision-making procedures. In this way, relevant socioeconomic factors can be taken into account along system development, particularly the constraints leading to system failures or harmful situations for humans. The presented architecture and modeling framework allow building, operating, and evolving responsible Intelligent Digital Twins as shown for constellations in personal home healthcare.