AIMNET: An IoT-Empowered Digital Twin for Continuous Gas Emission Monitoring and Early Hazard Detection

Abstract: A Digital Twin (DT) framework to enhance carbon-based gas plume monitoring is critical for supporting timely and effective mitigation responses to environmental hazards such as industrial gas leaks, or wildfire outbreaks carrying large carbon emissions. We present AIMNET, a one-of-a-kind DT framework that integrates a built-in-house Internet of Things (IoT)-based continuous sensing network with a physics-based multi-scale weather-gas transport model, that enables high-resolution and real-time simulation and detection of carbon gas emissions. AIMNET features a three-layer system architecture: (i) physical world: custom-built devices for continuous monitoring; (ii) bidirectional information feedback links: intelligent data transmission and reverse control; and (iii) digital twin world: AI-driven analytics for prediction, anomaly detection, and dynamic weather-gas coupled molecule transport modeling. Designed for scalable, energy-efficient deployment in remote environments, AIMNET architecture is realized through a small-scale distributed sensing network over an oil and gas production basin. To demonstrate the high-resolution, fast-responding concept, an equivalent mobile-based emission monitoring network was deployed around a wastewater treatment plant that constantly emits methane plumes. Our preliminary results through which, have successfully captured the methane emission events whose dynamics have been further resolved by the tiered model simulations. This work supports our position that AIMNET provides a promising DT framework for reliable, real-time monitoring and predictive risk assessment. In the end, we also discuss key implementation challenges and outline future directions for advancing such a new DT framework for translation deployment.