Digital Twin: New buzzword or tech of value?

Technology is advancing at an accelerated pace and so are the new and trendy concepts or keywords. The new one on the street today is ‘Digital Twin’.

It does sound like a new-age web series title with the plot of how a digital persona of a person tries to end the physical person and so on. (No, that isn’t a great plot).

The digital twin is slightly different, although it does involve the digital personification of a physical entity. Let’s dive into what a digital twin is and its importance.

What is a Digital Twin?

As defined by IBM, “A digital twin is a virtual representation of an object or system that spans its lifecycle, is updated from real-time data, and uses simulation, machine learning, and reasoning to help decision-making.”

That does sound loaded.

To break it down, a digital twin is a process of creating a virtual model of a physical object like a car, bike, or any other real-world item. You do this by collecting data from smart sensors fitted to the object. This data is used to replicate the product’s functionality, features, behavior, and performance in a virtual environment.

Now, why do that? It is simply to understand the challenges you will face during initial testing and real-world operation so that you can come up with smart solutions to fix the issues.

Digital Twin is different from Simulations

Although the explanation of the digital twin so far might have led you to think that it is the same as the simulation, there are some key differences.

Simulation is used to test designs under what-if scenarios, while digital twin tests physical products in a complex and scalable virtual environment.

Benefits of Digital Twin technology

Improved R&D: It gives creators greater insights into their products and helps in building strong research and development practice

Better performance: It puts you in an ideal position to optimize the performance of your product, while quickly fixing issues and reducing downtime

Faster time to market: Since the majority of testing happens in virtual environments, you can accelerate the production lifecycle

Remote monitoring: With the virtual study and test of the product, you essentially conduct remote monitoring and control the metrics

Predictive capabilities: You can estimate and forecast the key issues you will face even before going to production

Applications of Digital Twin

Manufacturing:

• Improving shop floor management
• Design Customization
• Predictive maintenance
• Virtual evaluation & verification
• Production planning
• Fault detection & diagnosis

Construction:

• Construction progress monitoring
• Building design optimization
• Safety management
• Building quality assessment
• Waste tracking & management
• Equipment efficiency optimization

Healthcare:

• Policy change verification
• Medical/surgical plan verification
• Medical resource management
• Equipment malfunction prediction
• Function test

Digital twin technology is just in its nascent stage and we predict its limitless applications across industries. Currently, it is growing in strength absorbing new skills and capabilities that will further hone processes in different domains.

If you are interested in learning about digital twin technology, stay tuned for more updates.