Digital-Twin Capabilities for Science Network Infrastructures (SBIR)

Solicitation PDF

• Original at OSTI
• Cached local copy

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Digital twins are an emerging area of modern science where a physical object (i.e., device, process, or infrastructure) is paired with a digital (virtual) version of that same object. Operations of the physical object can generate data to validate the virtual objects behavior while the virtual object allows rapid exploration of input parameters that might damage the physical object. It is this close interaction between the physical and virtual object that makes this digital-twin environment so productive.

DOE has a long history of building and operating high performance physical network infrastructures. The Energy Science Network (ESnet) supports the Office of Science lab complex and it also peers with other research and education networks (RENs) both domestically and internationally. ESnet also operates an internal 100G SDN network testbed and the NSF funded FABRIC external network testbed. Specifically:

a) The ESnet 100G Software-Defined Networking (SDN) testbed’s objective is to provide network researchers with a realistic environment for testing. The current testbed enables 100G application / middleware experiments in addition to Science DMZ and SDN control/data plane experiments.

b) FABRIC: The National Science Foundation (NSF) collaboration is building a national research infrastructure that will enable the computer science and networking community to develop and test novel architectures that could yield a faster, more secure Internet. What is missing is a virtual companion, a digital twin, to these testbeds.

This topic solicits applications that would create the network simulation capabilities that would accurately and reliably duplicate the operational and performance capabilities of these testbeds creating their digital twin.