DIATOMIC Digital Twin Platform

Wiki title

DIATOMIC Digital Twin Platform

The DIATOMIC digital twin platform is the technological core of the DIATOMIC initiative, providing a secure, modular, and standards-based environment for building and operating digital twins of Birmingham’s diverse urban systems. Designed to maximize flexibility, interoperability, and security, the platform allows city planners, researchers, SMEs, and community partners to co-create and deploy real-time digital models that drive smarter decision-making, operational efficiency, and sustainable growth across the West Midlands.

Key Concepts

Composable Architecture

Rather than a monolithic or strictly layered architecture, the DIATOMIC platform utilizes a composable architecture. This approach breaks the system into modular, reusable services (“building blocks”) — such as data ingestion, 3D visualization, simulation, AI analytics, and access control — which can be independently developed, swapped, and connected through standardized APIs. This ensures:

Reusability: Components built for one digital twin scenario can be shared by others.
Scalability: New modules or data sources can be integrated without reengineering the whole system.
Flexibility: Modules can be updated or replaced as requirements evolve, supporting growth and adaptation over time.

“We’ve broken down the different elements into modular building blocks that could be built by different partners… and communicate between them with APIs in an API-driven approach”.

Interoperability and Standards

True interoperability is crucial for the success of federated and composable digital twin platforms. DIATOMIC’s platform:

Adopts open international standards such as ISO 23247 for digital twins, OGC CityGML/CityJSON for 3D urban models, and ETSI NGSI-LD for context data models.
Promotes semantic interoperability using ontologies like SAREF4CITY, enabling different systems to “understand” and share data, not just exchange it in a raw format.
Relies on standardized APIs (e.g., REST, NGSI-LD, Microsoft DTDL) to allow seamless integration of modules, whether developed by project partners or external contributors25 6.

“The project’s architecture is designed for interoperability and scalability, using open standards and APIs to allow diverse partners to contribute and integrate new solutions”.

Security and Access Control

A multi-layered approach ensures the platform’s security and data privacy:

Role-based access control (RBAC): Defines precise permissions based on user roles, limiting sensitive data access to authorized users or systems.
End-to-end encryption: Protects data at rest and in transit using industry-grade protocols (e.g., AES-256, TLS/SSL).
Auditability: All data access and changes are logged for transparency and compliance.
Blockchain-backed traceability: Some components use blockchain for tamper-proof logs and verifiable data provenance, especially important for cross-organizational data sharing.
Consent management: Citizens and stakeholders retain dynamic control over their data permissions, supporting GDPR and related regulations27 8 9.

Mechanisms

Platform Building Blocks

The DIATOMIC platform’s composable architecture is built from the following common blocks2:

3D Visualization
Asset Management
Predictive Analytics
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
Authorization and Access Control
APIs and Data Interfaces
Sensors (including IoT and drone-based data)
Data Ingestion, Storage, and Processing

Each service operates independently but interoperates through APIs, allowing the assembly of complex applications from standardized, reusable modules. For instance, a traffic management digital twin may utilize the 3D visualization, predictive analytics, and sensor modules, while a hydrogen fuel cell twin would focus on different combinations.

Interoperability Enforcement

All modules must conform to agreed-upon data exchange formats (e.g., JSON, CityGML, GeoJSON) and metadata schemas.
Semantic annotation (embedding standardized meanings in the data) is enforced to reach high levels of interoperability, relying on shared ontologies and data models.
Open APIs (e.g., NGSI-LD) ensure that any compliant external system can interact with the platform, enabling plug-and-play integration and fostering ecosystem growth25 6.

Security Controls

Granular RBAC ensures that users and systems only access data and services they are permitted to.
Encryption is required for all sensitive data, whether exchanged internally or externally.
Blockchain components handle critical audit trails and verifiable access histories.
Consent management interfaces are provided for citizens and SMEs to manage their data permissions in real time27 8 9.

Examples

Reusable Modularity: An active transport route planning microservice created for the air quality digital twin is later repurposed to support energy system decision modeling.
Cross-Platform Standards: Sensor data collected in JSON format with semantic annotations (SAREF ontologies) can be consumed by any standards-compliant digital twin module operating on the platform.
API-Driven Integration: Birmingham City Council can add a new housing retrofit scenario module by connecting it to existing data and analytics blocks via the platform’s RESTful APIs, without redeveloping the core system.
Granular Access: A commercial SME developing predictive maintenance for fuel cells is provided with access only to anonymized, relevant datasets, with all their activity logged and audited.

DIATOMIC Digital Twin Platform

DIATOMIC Digital Twin Platform

Key Concepts

Composable Architecture

Interoperability and Standards

Security and Access Control

Mechanisms

Platform Building Blocks

Interoperability Enforcement

Security Controls

Examples

References

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