Keeping Digital Twins in Sync with Reality: It’s Easier Than You Think!

In a world where keeping your BMS (Building Management System) updated can feel like an ongoing challenge, it’s easy to imagine that maintaining a Digital Twin would be even more complex and costly. But surprisingly, that’s not the case. A well-executed Digital Twin is easier and more economical to keep in sync with reality.

Let’s explore why keeping Digital Twins aligned with real-world changes is simpler than you might expect.

1. BIM/Revit Foundation

At the core of any modern and robust Digital Twin is a BIM (Building Information Model), often built on platforms like Autodesk Revit. Think of it as the living blueprint of your building, typically developed during construction, and can continue being useful through operation and maintenance. Through advanced tools like Datasmith Live Link and Twinmotion, any BIM changes whether updating a room layout or upgrading equipment automatically flow into the Digital Twin. This real-time sync keeps everything updated, sparing you from manual interventions.

Unlike legacy BMS systems, where you may need specialized skills to keep things up to date, BIM can be easily maintained by a variety of team members, from trained staff to even interns fresh out of school. The software is accessible, widely taught, and doesn’t require niche expertise.

2. Modular Components

As buildings are being used, they change. Equipment fails and gets replaced, spaces are repurposed, VAV Boxes shift position, etc. Keeping your systems as true to reality as possible is crucial for efficient operation and maintenance. With traditional systems, updating those changes such as redesigning operator graphics, is tedious, costly, and time-consuming, sometimes those changes are simply ignored or stalled waiting for the next capital budget approval to tackle the problem. In the Digital Twin environment, this problem can be streamlined. For equipment replacement, many manufacturers already make the Revit models of their equipment available online; free to download, which can be leveraged to add a new piece of equipment to the twin with a small effort, once this is implemented, the component becomes part of the library for the 3D world. With Digital Twin adoption growing, manufacturers are increasingly providing pre-modeled equipment in 3D formats, including the necessary data tags, callouts, and even simulations. As those libraries evolve, plugging them into the 3D Digital Twin world will become seamless. Other changes to the space such as equipment movement or space modifications are either automated or trivial to do manually. When you’re dealing with a full 3D environment, where everything is an object, you can simply shift them, and not have to, for example, re-render a new floorplan, re-draw the zones, and re-bind all the data to reflect the changes.

3. Real-Time Data Means Real-Time Accuracy

Digital Twins aren’t just static models—they can implement data-driven geometry. That means objects and systems in your twin are constantly updated through real-time data feeds from sensors and IoT devices. These objects can even shift their position in real-time to mirror changes in the physical world. One example of such an application can be leveraged for asset tracking, for example: keeping track of servers in a rack is a complex and often manual process for data center operators, but with the data-driven geometry in a Digital Twin the racks can visually shift position, driven by data, reducing or eliminating the need for physical site walks and rounds.

4. A Long-Term, Scalable Solution

As Digital Twin technology continues to evolve, it’s only going to get better. The library of available devices and assets will expand, real-time syncing will become even more seamless, and keeping your building’s digital counterpart aligned with the physical world will feel effortless. Even today, keeping a Digital Twin in sync with reality is not as difficult or costly as it may seem. With tools like BIM, real-time data synchronization, and a growing ecosystem of 3D-modeled assets, it’s far easier than keeping a traditional BMS up to date. It’s time to embrace this new era of facility management and let the technology work for you.

Sources & Inspiration: Autodesk, Autodesk Help, Bentley Systems, Smart Spatial

by: Arthur Alter (proof & polish by #GenAI)