Master - Methodology for evaluating the alignment of a multi-level CPPS digital twin

Co-directed, the master internship will benefit from the working context of both the Quartz and DISP laboratories.

The master internship will be carried out in the Quartz laboratory and DISP. The practical organisation will be defined with the candidate.

The Quartz laboratory is a multidisciplinary research unit dedicated to the engineering of complex systems. It is structured into six research teams covering a range of disciplinary and multidisciplinary scientific themes, focusing on : the vibratory and acoustic behaviour of structures ; the behaviour of materials under the severe stresses induced by operation and the consideration of non-linearities and geometric constraints in the context of analysing and optimising the behaviour of mechanical systems ; non-linear automation, power electronics, fast electronics, sustainable systems, renewable energy and mechatronics. The thesis will be carried out within the Sustainable Systems team. “Sustainable Systems” are complex products, systems or systems of systems. Sustainability may be linked to long life, use and/or the consideration of environmental indicators in the design, integration, reconfiguration and management of these systems. Research focuses on systems for the production of goods (automotive, aeronautics, cosmetics, etc.) and services (hospitals, urban transport and mobility, intelligent roads, etc.), supply chains, cyber-physical systems, and so on. It covers the various phases in the life cycle of these systems, from overall design to end-of-life, and is part of research fields such as "big data", "industry 4.0" and "smart and sustainable cities".

The DISP (Decision and Information Systems for Production system, UR4570) laboratory brings together researchers and teacher-researchers from the University of Lyon, with dual expertise in Industrial Engineering and Business Information Systems. In response to the scientific challenges posed by changes in the socio-economic world, it conducts research into the design and deployment of decision-support methods and information systems to improve the performance, agility and resilience of goods and services production systems and global supply chains. Its dual expertise, drawing on skills in Modeling, Operations Research, Simulation, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Planning, Scheduling and Decision Support, enables it to consider these complex systems in their technical, structural, organizational and human dimensions simultaneously. Its members are spread across 4 institutions of the University of Lyon: INSA Lyon, Université Lumière Lyon 2 and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, as the parent institutions, and Université Jean Monnet de Saint Etienne as a partner institution.

Background and objectives of the master internship

This master internship is part of the ANR Digital Twin for Cyber Physical Systems (DT4CPS, ANR-23-CE10-0010) project, which aims to federate the digital models of automation engineers and production engineers, turning them into fully-fledged digital twins for the commissioning of Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS), but also a management support tool for Industry 4.0 actors.

There are a multitude of definitions of a digital twin (DT), depending on the use cases and associated value creation. The definition chosen for the DT will correspond to the vision of the automation engineer and the production engineer. The AIF (Alliance Industrie du Futur) has published a report on DT as a "major lever for the digital transformation of industry". DT is defined as:

• an organized set of digital models representing a realworld entity to address specific issues and uses,
• updated in relation to reality, with a frequency and precision adapted to its issues and uses,
• with advanced operational tools for understanding, analyzing, forecasting and optimizing the operation and management of the real entity.

In the DT4CPS project, the digital twin of a production system is considered to be multi-level: component level (automation engineer), equipment level (automation engineer / production engineer) and line level (production engineer). A calibration of the numerical simulation models making up this digital twin is necessary to align these numerical models with the physical twin, in order to give the digital twin a sufficiently similar behavior to its physical twin. From the point of view of DT usage, an "acceptable" alignment is a behavioral and temporal deviation that does not call into question the purpose of the decision

The scientific objectives of the master internship are therefore:

1. define indicators that characterize the alignment of a digital twin with respect to a physical twin;
2. Define methodology for evaluating the alignment of a multi-level CPPS digital twin.

Missions

The main stages of the thesis will be:

• State of the art on the alignment and synchronization of a digital model with the entity being modeled (physical and software)
• Define relevant indicators to characterize the alignment of a digital twin with its physical twin
• Propose a methodology for measuring indicators of the alignment of a digital twin with its physical twin

The proposed method will be tested on at least one automated line from one of the DT4CPS project partners and its digital twin.

Participation in national and/or international conferences is expected. A good command of English is required.

The candidate should have skills in production systems, operations management and associated tools/software (flow simulation, MES, etc.), discrete-event systems, communication and data exchange between equipment. In addition, the successful candidate should have a keen interest in software development.