TwiNet: Connecting Real World Networks to their Digital Twins Through a Live Bidirectional Link

TL;DR

TwiNet establishes a real-time, bidirectional link between physical wireless spectrum environments and their digital twins, enabling rapid data exchange, improved network performance, and swift deployment of adaptive solutions.

Contribution

The paper introduces TwiNet, a novel protocol for near-realtime bidirectional communication between real-world wireless systems and digital twins, enhancing network monitoring and adaptation capabilities.

Findings

Achieved an average latency of 14 ms for data transfer using MQTT.

Improved network performance by approximately 15% in a Safe Adaptive Data Rate system.

Enabled deployment of new CNN models in as low as 2 minutes to counter adversaries.

Abstract

The wireless spectrum's increasing complexity poses challenges and opportunities, highlighting the necessity for real-time solutions and robust data processing capabilities. Digital Twin (DT), virtual replicas of physical systems, integrate real-time data to mirror their real-world counterparts, enabling precise monitoring and optimization. Incorporating DTs into wireless communication enhances predictive maintenance, resource allocation, and troubleshooting, thus bolstering network reliability. Our paper introduces TwiNet, enabling bidirectional, near-realtime links between real-world wireless spectrum scenarios and DT replicas. Utilizing the protocol, MQTT, we can achieve data transfer times with an average latency of 14 ms, suitable for real-time communication. This is confirmed by monitoring real-world traffic and mirroring it in real-time within the DT's wireless environment. We evaluate TwiNet's performance in two use cases: (i) assessing risky traffic configurations of UEs in a Safe Adaptive Data Rate (SADR) system, improving network performance by approximately 15% compared to original network selections; and (ii) deploying new CNNs in response to jammed pilots, achieving up to 97% accuracy training on artificial data and deploying a new model in as low as 2 minutes to counter persistent adversaries. TwiNet enables swift deployment and adaptation of DTs, addressing crucial challenges in modern wireless communication systems.