Abstract
Digital Twins may be employed for developing embedded software and can
be classified in three subcategories by their level of integration with
the corresponding physical objects/twins. We introduce and report on
experience with a new category: the Digital Twin Prototype. Digital Twin
Prototypes support engineers to test embedded software systems, without
the need of a connection to a physical object. In CI/CD pipelines they
can be used for integration testing and thus, allow for an agile
verification and validation process. We developed and evaluated this
approach to create an underwater network of ocean observation systems.
The feasibility was shown in a demonstration mission in the Baltic Sea
in October 2020.