Aruba Pilot
Aruba as a 3DxVERSE Pilot Location
Exploring how interoperable Digital Twins can support sustainable airport operations and responsible travel
Aruba is one of the pilot locations participating in the 3DxVERSE project, a European initiative developing interoperable, trustworthy Digital Twins for sustainable travel and living communities.
Within 3DxVERSE, Aruba represents an airport-focused pilot, contributing real-world context to explore how Digital Twin technologies can support more sustainable, transparent, and efficient air transport ecosystems.
3DxVERSE is co-funded by the European Union under the Digital Europe Programme.
Why Aruba?
An Airport Context with Global Relevance
Airports play a critical role in mobility, economic development, and climate impact.
Aruba was selected as a pilot location because it provides a realistic and internationally connected airport environment where sustainability challenges are tangible and measurable.
As part of 3DxVERSE, the Aruba pilot helps explore:
- The role of Digital Twins in airport environments
- How data can support more informed operational and sustainability decisions
- How airports can engage with travellers, authorities, and communities in a transparent way
This makes Aruba a valuable reference point for airports across Europe and beyond.
What Is Being Explored in the Aruba Pilot?
Digital Twins for Airport Sustainability and Operations
Within 3DxVERSE, the Aruba pilot contributes to exploring how Local Digital Twins can be applied in an airport setting.
Key areas of exploration include:
- Modelling airport-related activities within a Digital Twin environment
- Supporting sustainability-oriented decision-making, including CO₂ awareness
- Exploring how Digital Twins can help visualise and assess operational and environmental impacts
- Aligning airport use cases with European interoperability, trust, and data governance principles
The pilot does not aim to replace existing systems, but to explore how Digital Twins can complement decision-making through simulation and data integration.
A Citizen- and Traveller-Centric Perspective
Transparency and Awareness
A key aspect of the Aruba pilot is its human-centric perspective.
Within the broader 3DxVERSE vision, airport Digital Twins are explored as tools that can:
- Increase transparency around environmental impact
- Support awareness and engagement among travellers
- Enable clearer communication between airports, authorities, and communities
This aligns with 3DxVERSE’s commitment to trust, privacy, and responsible innovation.
How the Aruba Pilot Fits into 3DxVERSE
Part of a European Digital Twin Ecosystem
The Aruba pilot contributes to several core elements of the 3DxVERSE project:
- The Reference Architecture for interoperable Digital Twins
- The Digital Twin Interoperability Testbed
- Trust, security, and privacy frameworks aligned with EU regulation
- Cross-domain collaboration between mobility, sustainability, and governance
By doing so, the pilot helps ensure that airport-focused Digital Twin use cases can be:
- interoperable
- reusable
- aligned with European standards
Benefits for Airports, Cities, and Communities
Why the Aruba Pilot Matters
Insights from the Aruba pilot contribute to understanding how Digital Twins can
- Support more sustainable air travel
- Improve data-driven planning and operations
- Enhance transparency and trust
- Provide transferable knowledge for other airports and regions
The pilot helps ensure that future Digital Twin solutions are not only technically robust, but also socially responsible and environmentally aligned.
What Comes Next
From Pilot Exploration to Scalable Approaches
The Aruba pilot feeds into ongoing work across the project, including:
- Use case development (WP6)
- Technical implementation and integration (WP7)
- Pilot activities and evaluation (WP8)
As 3DxVERSE progresses, learnings from Aruba will help shape scalable Digital Twin approaches for airports, contributing to the wider European Digital Twin and CitiVerse ecosystem.