Digital Twins and Industrial Internet of Things : uncovering operational intelligence in industry 4.0

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Digital Twins (DTs) are changing how digital models and physical products interact. IIoT connects to intelligence in the physical world, and DTs virtually represent their physical counterparts. As a result, DTs will be invaluable for testing and simulating new parameters and design variants. However, Despite the undeniable potential of DTs, they still cannot differentiate themselves from simulation technologies, and their application and adoption remain limited. This study defines the concept, highlights the evolution and development of DTs, reviews its key enabling technologies, identifies IIoT's role as the backbone of DTs, examines DTs trends, highlights the key challenges, and explores its applications in the manufacturing process and Industry 4.0.