Building Trustworthy Twin-based Systems with Self-Sovereign Identities

Abstract

Semantic Twins are a novel means of describing Digital Twins and their associated real-world entities in human- and machine-readable formats. Together, this (Entity) Triplet facilitates easier development and deployment of Twin-based solutions, but a key challenge in critical applications is ensuring the trustworthiness of the Triplet: that they produce reliable services throughout their lifecycle, particularly in high-risk use cases. This paper studies the trustworthiness requirements of Triplet-based systems and the extent to which they can be addressed with Self-Sovereign identities (SSIs). The results show that there are cross-cutting requirements applicable for different entity types and lifecycle phases, and that SSIs can solve many of the key trustworthiness requirements. However, there is also a need for additional governance methods, such as architectural blueprints and ecosystem governance frameworks, to reach a comprehensive approach to the trustworthiness of Triplets. Finally, the paper provides a list of the essential trustworthiness requirements that even the low-risk Triplets should aim for.