Unlocking Built Environment Digital Twin Interoperability with Data Fabrics

Abstract

Digital Twins (DT) have become increasingly popular as a system-of-systems capable of integrating diverse data sources to support real-time decision-making across the built environment. As DT applications expand in facilities management (FM), energy efficiency, infrastructure monitoring, retrofits, and smart cities, ensuring seamless data integration is critical. Despite significant research on data interoperability, current DT implementation relies on ad hoc solutions, due to the proliferation of custom and complex data formats that make integration difficult to scale. For DTs to function reliably at scale, especially across interconnected building systems, a universal and flexible data integration framework is needed. This research aims to explore how data fabric architecture can address interoperability challenges by enabling the flexible, extensible, and accessible connection of heterogeneous data sources in DT environments. The study presents a data fabric-centered design approach for DTs focused on FM applications in the built environment. The proposed approach, comprising a macro- and a micro-scale implementation framework, establishes the foundations for creating standardized data integration pipelines that can handle multiple data modalities. These pipelines, grounded by data governance principles, promote consistency in DT development while remaining adaptable to evolving technical demands. This approach offers a promising path towards universal interoperability in DT systems, opening the frontiers for efficiently scaling DT adoption in FM and beyond for a more connected built environment. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying how interoperability challenges in DT systems can be addressed with data fabrics.