The Role of Digital Twin in Optical Communication: Fault Management, Hardware Configuration, and Transmission Simulation

Optical communication is developing rapidly in the directions of hardware resource diversification, transmission system flexibility, and network function virtualization. Its proliferation poses a significant challenge to traditional optical communication management and control systems. Digital twin (DT), a technology that utilizes data, models, and algorithms and integrates multiple disciplines, acts as a bridge between the real and virtual worlds for comprehensive connectivity. In the digital space, virtual models are established dynamically to simulate and describe the states, behaviors, and rules of physical objects in the physical space. DT has been significantly developed and widely applied in the industrial and military fields. This study introduces the DT technology to optical communication through interdisciplinary crossing and proposes a DT framework suitable for optical communication. The intelligent fault management model, flexible hardware configuration model, and dynamic transmission simulation model are established in the digital space with the help of deep learning algorithms to ensure the high-reliability operation and high-ef-ficiency management of optical communication systems and networks.