From Cyber–Physical Convergence to Digital Twins: A Review on Edge Computing Use Case Designs

Abstract

As a result of the new telecommunication ecosystem landscape, wireless communication has become an interdisciplinary field whose future is shaped by several interacting dimensions. These interacting dimensions, which form the cyber–physical convergence, closely link the technological perspective to its social, economic, and cognitive sciences counterparts. Beyond the current operational framework of the Internet of Things (IoT), network devices will be equipped with capabilities for learning, thinking, and understanding so that they can autonomously make decisions and take appropriate actions. Through this autonomous operation, wireless networking will be ushered into a paradigm that is primarily inspired by the efficient and effective use of (i) AI strategies, (ii) big data analytics, as well as (iii) cognition. This is the Cognitive Internet of People Processes Data and Things (CIoPPD&T), which can be defined in terms of the cyber–physical convergence. In this article, through the discussion of how the cyber–physical convergence and the interacting dynamics of the socio-technical ecosystem are enablers of digital twins (DTs), the network DT (NDT) is discussed in the context of 6G networks. Then, the design and realization of edge computing-based NDTs are discussed, which culminate with the vehicle-to-edge (V2E) use cases.