Digital Twin

A Digital Twin is a digital representation of a physical object or system. The technology behind digital twins has expanded to include large items such as buildings, factories and even cities, and some have said people and processes can have digital twins, expanding the concept even further. In essence, a digital twin is a computer program that takes real-world data about a physical object or system as inputs and produces as outputs predications or simulations of how that physical object or system will be affected by those inputs. Digital twin technology has moved beyond manufacturing and into the merging worlds of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and data analytics. As more complex “things” become connected with the ability to produce data, having a digital equivalent gives data scientists and other IT professionals the ability to optimize deployments for peak efficiency and create other what-if scenarios.

Digital twins are emerging as the best way for enterprises to compound value from digital transformation initiatives. For the industrial enterprise, digital twin use cases are primarily being adopted across engineering, operations, and service – driving significant business value and laying the groundwork for digital transformation across the enterprise.

Types of Digital Twin

Digital twin can be broken down into three broad types, which show the different times when the process can be used:

• Digital Twin Prototype (DTP) - This is undertaken before a physical product is created
• Digital Twin Instance (DTI) – This is done once a product is manufactured in order to run tests on different usage scenarios
• Digital Twin Aggregate (DTA) – This gathers DTI information to determine the capabilities of a product, run prognostics and test operating parameters

These over-arching types can offer a variety of uses including logistics planning, product development and re-design, quality control / management, and systems planning. A digital twin can be used to save time and money whenever a product or process needs to be tested, whether in design, implementation, monitoring or improvement.

Examples of Digital Twin Technology

Companies use digital twin technology for many reasons including to improve ongoing operations, train employees and to test new products or procedures before launching them to the real world where it becomes more expensive and complicated to fix any issues.

• Oftentimes artificial intelligence and machine learning are used to analyze the model of operations represented by the digital twin no matter where the real facility is located—even if the equipment is in space. NASA used pairing technology, the precursor to digital twin technology, from the earliest days of space exploration to solve the issue of operating, maintaining and repairing systems when you aren’t near them physically. This was precisely how engineers and astronauts on Earth determined how to rescue the Apollo 13 mission. Today, digital twins are used at NASA to explore next-generation vehicles and aircraft.
• Digital twin technology can help personnel get comfortable with Internet of Things implementation and automation because they have the opportunity to simulate the application prior to it going live. The lessons learned and opportunities uncovered through a digital twin can then be applied to the physical environment.
• Since digital twins can give a real-time view of what’s happening with equipment or other physical assets, they have been very helpful in manufacturing to reduce maintenance issues and ensure optimal production output. Chevron expects to save millions of dollars in maintenance costs from the digital twin technology they will have deployed on equipment by 2024 in oil fields and refineries.
• Similar to the benefits in manufacturing, digital twins can revolutionize healthcare operations as well as patient care. A digital twin of a patient or organs allows surgeons and health professionals to practice procedures in a simulated environment rather than on a real patient. Sensors the size of bandages can monitor patients and produce digital models that can be monitored by AI and used to improve care.
• At the Spring Festival Gala aired on China Central Television, the four human hosts were joined by an AI copy of themselves—their very own digital twin created by ObEN. They are more than computer-generated avatars because they used machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision to build virtual copies of the hosts. Future applications for this technology include plans to build AI-powered teachers, nurses, and doctors.
• Digital twin technology has even been deployed to refine Formula 1 car racing. In a sport where every second counts, a simulation can help the driver and the car team know what adjustments can improve performance.
• There is even a digital twin of Singapore! Imagine all the variables that go into the management of a city. Digital twin technology helps city planners understand and improve the efficiency of energy consumption as well as many applications that can improve life for its citizens.

Benefits of Digital Twins<ref> Benefits of Digital Twins GE

• Increased reliability and availability: Monitor, simulate and control an asset, process or network as an effective strategy to improve system performance
• Reduced risk: Protect the health and safety of employees, the environment, and business objectives, by reducing asset- and process-related incidents and avoiding unplanned downtime
• Lower maintenance costs: Predict issues before breakdowns occur, order parts, and schedule repairs at times that don’t impact production goals
• Improved production: Ensure product quality with insight into the performance of assets and processes in real-time to influence and react to customization and minimize impact on supply chain
• Faster-time-to-value: Leverage industry expertise, easy-to-use tools, and the most complete Blueprint catalogue that provide the analytics and real-time capabilities that industry needs