Simulation engineering and digital twins

Applying model-driven engineering to make developing digital twins and other simulations easier, cheaper, and safer

Digital twins are digital representations of real-world assets that are kept in sync and allow in-silico experimentation, reducing cost and risk. Developing them requires significant modelling and simulation expertise and can only be achieved by bringing together a wider range of expertise. Many of the key stakeholders don’t have the technical expertise for software development, but the software developers don’t have the domain expertise. Trust in digital twins is essential, but difficult to maintain because of this gap in expertise and the resulting lack of transparency.

These challenges make this a particularly fruitful area of application for model-driven engineering. Domain-specific modelling languages (DSMLs) will allow capturing domain knowledge explicitly and can act as the interface between domain and simulation engineering, including supporting the capture and maintenance of trust arguments. We need to develop the technology for this.

I did a Computerphile video on digital twins, which you can find here. Daniel Shea of Scholarly Communications interviewed Fiona Polack and myself on our paper on modelling languages for simulations, which you can find here.

There are lots of exciting application domains in which to do this research. Current and previous students have worked in healthcare and computational biology. Finance, security, supply-chain management, construction / civil engineering, and other engineering areas are all relevant areas of application.

References

Journal Articles

2025

Model-Driven Engineering for Digital Twins: Opportunities and Challenges

Judith Michael, Loek Cleophas, Steffen Zschaler, and 27 more authors

INCOSE Systems Engineering Journal 28(5), 2025

Bib HTML PDF

@article{MichaelEtAl25,
  author = {Michael, Judith and Cleophas, Loek and Zschaler, Steffen and Clark, Tony and Combemale, Benoit and Godfrey, Thomas and Khelladi, Djamel Eddine and Kulkarni, Vinay and Lehner, Daniel and Rumpe, Bernhard and Wimmer, Manuel and Wortmann, Andreas and Ali, Shaukat and Barn, Balbir and Barosan, Ion and Bencomo, Nelly and Bordeleau, Francis and Grossmann, Georg and Karsai, Gabor and Kopp, Oliver and Mitschang, Bernhard and Ariza, Paula Mu{\~n}oz and Pierantonio, Alfonso and Polack, Fiona A. C. and Riebisch, Matthias and Schlingloff, Holger and Stumptner, Markus and Vallecillo, Antonio and van den Brand, Mark and Vangheluwe, Hans},
  title = {Model-Driven Engineering for Digital Twins: Opportunities and Challenges},
  journal = {{INCOSE} Systems Engineering Journal},
  volume = {28},
  number = {5},
  pages = {659--670},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1002/sys.21815},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/sys.21815},
}

2023

SoSyM

Trustworthy agent-based simulation: the case for domain-specific modelling languages

Steffen Zschaler, and Fiona A. C. Polack

Software and Systems Modelling 22(2), 2023

Bib HTML PDF Interview

@article{ZschalerPolack23,
  author = {Zschaler, Steffen and Polack, Fiona A. C.},
  title = {Trustworthy agent-based simulation: the case for domain-specific modelling languages},
  journal = {Software and Systems Modelling},
  pages = {455--470},
  volume = {22},
  number = {2},
  year = {2023},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-023-01082-9},
  doi = {10.1007/s10270-023-01082-9},
}

Model-Driven Engineering of Digital Twins (Dagstuhl Seminar 22362)

Loek Cleophas, Thomas Godfrey, Djamel Eddine Khelladi, and 4 more authors

Dagstuhl Reports 12(9), 2023

Bib HTML PDF

@article{cleophas_et_al:DagRep.12.9.20,
  author = {Cleophas, Loek and Godfrey, Thomas and Khelladi, Djamel Eddine and Lehner, Daniel and Combemale, Benoit and Rumpe, Bernhard and Zschaler, Steffen},
  title = {{Model-Driven Engineering of Digital Twins (Dagstuhl Seminar 22362)}},
  pages = {20--40},
  journal = {Dagstuhl Reports},
  issn = {2192-5283},
  year = {2023},
  volume = {12},
  number = {9},
  editor = {Combemale, Benoit and Rumpe, Bernhard and Zschaler, Steffen},
  publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address = {Dagstuhl, Germany},
  url = {https://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2023/17808},
  urn = {urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-178080},
  doi = {10.4230/DagRep.12.9.20},
  annote = {Keywords: Software Engineering, Model-Driven Engineering, Digital Twins, Model Management, Data Management, Models@runtime},
}

2020

Report on Workshop: Planning the Future of Agent Simulation

Fiona Polack, and Steffen Zschaler

Artificial Life Journal 26(2), 2020

Bib HTML

@article{PolackZschaler20,
  author = {Polack, Fiona and Zschaler, Steffen},
  title = {Report on Workshop: Planning the Future of Agent Simulation},
  journal = {Artificial Life Journal},
  volume = {26},
  number = {2},
  year = {2020},
}

Conference and Workshop Papers

2025

Towards dialectic models for documenting and conducting simulation studies: a vision

Steffen Zschaler, Pia Wilsdorf, Thomas Godfrey, and 1 more author

In SIGSIM-PADS’25, 2025

Bib HTML PDF

@inproceedings{ZschalerWilsdorfEtAl25,
  author = {Zschaler, Steffen and Wilsdorf, Pia and Godfrey, Thomas and Uhrmacher, Adelinde M.},
  title = {Towards dialectic models for documenting and conducting simulation studies: a vision},
  booktitle = {SIGSIM-PADS'25},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3726301.3728411},
  doi = {10.1145/3726301.3728411}
}

WSC

Dialectic models for documenting and conducting simulation studies: Exploring Feasibility

Steffen Zschaler, Pia Wilsdorf, Thomas Godfrey, and 1 more author

In Winter Simulation Conference, 2025

Bib PDF

@inproceedings{ZschalerWilsdorfEtAl25b,
  author = {Zschaler, Steffen and Wilsdorf, Pia and Godfrey, Thomas and Uhrmacher, Adelinde M.},
  title = {Dialectic models for documenting and conducting simulation studies: Exploring Feasibility},
  booktitle = {Winter Simulation Conference},
  year = {2025},
}

Modeling: The Heart and Soul of Engineering Smart Ecosystems

Antonio Bucchiarone, Benoit Combemale, Alfonso Pierantonio, and 14 more authors

In 17th System Analysis and Modelling Conference (SAM’25), 2025

Bib

@inproceedings{BucchiaroneEtAl25,
  author = {Bucchiarone, Antonio and Combemale, Benoit and Pierantonio, Alfonso and Bencomo, Nelly and van den Brand, Mark and Bruel, Jean-Michel and Cicchetti, Antonio and Rocco, Juri Di and Lambers, Leen and Michael, Judith and Rumpe, Bernhard and Sj{\"o}din, Mikael and Taentzer, Gabriele and Tichy, Matthias and Vangheluwe, Hans and Wimmer, Manuel and Zschaler, Steffen},
  title = {Modeling: The Heart and Soul of Engineering Smart Ecosystems},
  booktitle = {17th System Analysis and Modelling Conference (SAM'25)},
  year = {2025},
}

2024

WSC

Potential and Challenges of Assurance Cases for Simulation Validation

Pia Wilsdorf, Steffen Zschaler, Fiete Haack, and 1 more author

In 2024 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC), 2024

Bib HTML PDF

@inproceedings{WilsdorfEtAl24,
  author = {Wilsdorf, Pia and Zschaler, Steffen and Haack, Fiete and Uhrmacher, Adelinde M.},
  booktitle = {2024 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC)},
  title = {Potential and Challenges of Assurance Cases for Simulation Validation},
  year = {2024},
  pages = {2166--2177},
  doi = {10.1109/WSC63780.2024.10838818},
  keywords = {Accuracy;Computational modeling;Safety;Reliability;Context modeling;Computational biology},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC63780.2024.10838818},
}

2023

WSC

Supporting Emergency Department Risk Mitigation with a Modular and Reusable Agent-Based Simulation Infrastructure

Thomas Godfrey, Steffen Zschaler, Rahul Batra, and 4 more authors

In 2023 Winter Simulation Conference, 2023

Also presented at ‘Modellierung 2024’

Bib HTML PDF

@inproceedings{GodfreyEtAl23,
  author = {Godfrey, Thomas and Zschaler, Steffen and Batra, Rahul and Douthwaite, Sam and Edgeworth, Jonathan and Edwards, Matthew and Miles, Simon},
  title = {Supporting Emergency Department Risk Mitigation with a Modular and Reusable Agent-Based Simulation Infrastructure},
  booktitle = {2023 Winter Simulation Conference},
  year = {2023},
  url = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/3643142.3643155},
  doi = {10.5555/3643142.3643155},
  note = {Also presented at `Modellierung 2024'},
}

2022

A Methodology for DSML-assisted Participatory Agent-Based Enterprise Modelling

Thomas Godfrey, Rahul Batra, Sam Douthwaite, and 3 more authors

In 15th IFIP WG 8.1 Working Conference on the Practice of Enterprise Modelling (PoEM’22), 2022

Bib HTML PDF

@inproceedings{GodfreyEtAl22,
  author = {Godfrey, Thomas and Batra, Rahul and Douthwaite, Sam and Edgeworth, Jonathan and Miles, Simon and Zschaler, Steffen},
  title = {A Methodology for {DSML}-assisted Participatory Agent-Based Enterprise Modelling},
  booktitle = {15th {IFIP} {WG 8.1} Working Conference on the Practice of Enterprise Modelling ({PoEM}'22)},
  year = {2022},
  url = {https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-21488-2_13},
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-21488-2_13},
}

A Community-Sourced View on Engineering Digital Twins: A Report from the EDT Community

Loek Cleophas, Thomas Godfrey, Djamel Eddine Khelladi, and 6 more authors

In 2nd International Workshop on Model-Driven Engineering of Digital Twins – ModDiT’22, 2022

Bib PDF

@inproceedings{CloephasEtAl22,
  author = {Cleophas, Loek and Godfrey, Thomas and Khelladi, Djamel Eddine and Lehner, Daniel and Combemale, Benoit and van den Brand, Mark and Vierhauser, Michael and Wimmer, Manuel and Zschaler, Steffen},
  title = {A Community-Sourced View on Engineering Digital Twins: A Report from the {EDT} Community},
  booktitle = {2nd International Workshop on Model-Driven Engineering of Digital Twins -- ModDiT'22},
  year = {2022},
}

2020

SLE

A Family of Languages for Trustworthy Agent-Based Simulation

Steffen Zschaler, and Fiona Polack

In 13th International Conference on Software Language Engineering (SLE’20), 2020

Bib HTML PDF Supp

@inproceedings{ZschalerPolack20,
  author = {Zschaler, Steffen and Polack, Fiona},
  title = {A Family of Languages for Trustworthy Agent-Based Simulation},
  booktitle = {13th International Conference on Software Language Engineering (SLE'20)},
  year = {2020},
}