IFC5 Proposal: Digital Twin External Reference

Motivation

Modern assets increasingly have associated digital representations outside the IFC model, including:

* Manufacturing models
* Product lifecycle data
* ERP records
* Maintenance systems
* Simulation models
* Digital twin platforms
* Asset management systems

Currently, IFC provides several mechanisms for external references, but there is no simple, standardized way to associate an IFC entity with its primary digital twin representation.

Proposal

Introduce an optional attribute or standardized property:

DigitalTwinReference

Applicable to all physical assets and products.

Examples:

* IfcPump
* IfcValve
* IfcFan
* IfcBoiler
* IfcPipeSegment
* IfcFurniture
* IfcDistributionElement
* IfcAsset

Example

{
“GlobalId”: “3Jf8ABCD1234”,
“DigitalTwinReference”: “urn:asset:pump:12345”
}

or

{
“GlobalId”: “3Jf8ABCD1234”,
“DigitalTwinReference”: “https://digitaltwin.company.com/assets/12345”
}

Benefits

* Simple implementation
* Vendor-neutral
* Compatible with IFC JSON serializations
* Compatible with existing IFC external reference mechanisms
* Enables integration with manufacturing, ERP, maintenance, simulation and digital twin systems
* Future-proof for emerging standards and technologies

The IFC model remains focused on describing the built environment, while external systems remain responsible for detailed lifecycle and operational information