KEYNOTE: RF Digital Twins: Trading Off Fidelity and Performance Across Models, Simulation Tools, and Hardware Measurements

The development of accurate digital twins for RF systems enables designers and system engineers to accelerate innovation while minimizing the risk of costly late-stage errors. Employing models at different levels of abstraction, which support diverse analysis and simulation methodologies, establishes a digital thread throughout the wireless system design process. This approach facilitates the tracking of requirements, performance metrics, and optimization opportunities across analog, RF, and digital hardware domains. In this presentation, we discuss methodologies for characterizing beamformers, front-end modules, and other RF components through both measurement and simulation. We demonstrate techniques for validating model accuracy in system-level design contexts, using a highly programmable wideband mmWave beamformer as a practical example, with a focus on end-to-end design and simulation for radar applications. Comprehensive system-level workflows are introduced, incorporating behavioral models to predict performance under a range of operating conditions. Attendees will gain insights into validating digital twins against empirical measurements, enhancing simulation fidelity, and streamlining design cycles. The session will also critically assess the strengths and limitations of various modeling techniques for RF system development.