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We present a model to implement digital twins in sustainable agriculture. Our two-year research project follows the design science research paradigm, aiming at the joint creation of physical and digital layers of IoT-enabled structures for vertical farming. The proposed model deploys IoT to (1) improve productivity, (2) allow self-configuration to environmental changes, (3) promote energy saving, (4) ensure self-protection with continuous structural monitoring, and (5) reach self-optimization learning from multiple data sources. Our model shows how digital twins can contribute to the agrofood lifecycle of planning, operation, monitoring, and optimization. Moreover, it clarifies the interconnections between goals, tasks, and resources of IoT-enabled structures for sustainable agriculture, which is one of the biggest human challenges of this century.
Monteiro et al. (2018) studied this question.