Developing an Underwater Network of Ocean Observation Systems With Digital Twin Prototypes—A Field Report From the Baltic Sea

During the research cruise AL547 with RV ALKOR (October 20–31, 2020), a collaborative underwater network of ocean observation systems was deployed in Boknis Eck (SW Baltic Sea, German exclusive economic zone) in the context of the project ARCHES (i.e., Autonomous Robotic Networks to Help Modern Societies). This network was realized via a digital twin prototype approach. During that period, different scenarios were executed to demonstrate the feasibility of digital twins in an extreme environment, such as underwater. One of the scenarios showed the collaboration of stage IV digital twins with their physical counterparts on the seafloor. In this article, we address the research question of whether digital twins represent a feasible approach to operate mobile ad-hoc networks for ocean and coastal observation.