The IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS) is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and longest-standing conferences in the field of distributed computing. The 2025 conference marked the 45th annual event, held in Glasgow, Scotland, with more than 350 attendees from over 40 countries.
The award winning paper Towards Sustainable Synchronization of Digital Twins in Next-Generation IoT Networks will be published later (1-2- months) by the conference organizers in the IEEE Xplore digital library.
This research is supervised by Roberto Morabito, Assistant Professor at EURECOM and Docent at the University of Helsinki, and Sasu Tarkoma, Professor of Computer Science and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Helsinki.
Digital twinning for the future 6G networks
Digital twins are virtual replicas of physical systems that feature real-time, bidirectional communication with their real-world counterparts. This continuous exchange enables advanced analytics and optimization of the physical asset based on insights derived from its digital counterpart. Synchronization between the digital and physical counterparts occurs frequently (e.g., every 10 seconds) to maintain the accuracy of the digital model. More frequent updates enhance the precision of the digital twin, allowing it to mirror the physical asset closely, but at the cost of increased network resource consumption. Conversely, less frequent updates reduce network usage but may compromise accuracy, resulting in weaker insights and poorer decisions.
Future 6G networks are expected to facilitate massive twinning, which expands the concept of digital twinning from individual assets to entire networks and their surrounding environments. Such platforms could comprise thousands of individual digital twins, including those of sensors and actuators, within large-scale systems and environments. As the number of digital twins increases, the challenge of keeping each twin synchronized in real time becomes more complex.
Saving energy and resilient infrastructure
“Our research proposes a three-phase architecture that efficiently utilizes existing interactions within the digital twin ecosystem, thereby reducing the number of synchronization events while maintaining high fidelity”, says Yasith R. Wanigarathna.
This approach significantly reduces network resource consumption without substantially compromising the accuracy of the digital twins. Additionally, the work aligns with global sustainability goals related to affordable energy, resilient infrastructure, and climate action.
This research is supported by the Digital Twinning of Personal Area Networks for Optimized Sensing and Communication project through the Business Finland 6G Bridge Program (8782/31/2022).