Considerations for Digital Twin Technology and Emerging Standards

85 Digital twin technology enables the creation of electronic representations of real-world entities 86 and the viewing of the state of those entities. Its full vision will require standards that have not 87 yet been developed. It is relatively new although it uses many existing foundational technologies 88 and, in many cases, appears similar to existing modeling and simulation capabilities. This report 89 attempts to provide clarity in understanding the concept and purpose of digital twins. It offers a 90 new definition for a digital twin, and describes characteristics, features, functions, and expected 91 operational uses. The report then discusses novel cybersecurity challenges presented by digital 92 twin architectures. Lastly, it discusses traditional cybersecurity challenges as well as trust 93 considerations in the context of existing NIST guidance and documents. 94