DIGITAL TWINS

The world will never be the same again. It is not limited to the marvels of engineering, but what can be done with it, for further improvement, through engineering drawing to start with  and now the path breaking technology of Digital Twins. With Metaverse making waves all associated technologies, from online gaming – Minecraft etc to simulation to what all can be mimicked in the virtual world has become the topic of intense concern and inquisitiveness. What technologies of today would finally be added to become the first threshold of Metaverse, only time will tell. The more we know about these technologies, we would be better placed to understand our 3D future. Digital Twin is one of them.

What is a digital twin? ”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.” It is different from simulations and avatars of human beings, yet we can see some linkages between these. In simple terms, it is a virtual model to accurately reflect a physical object. Wind turbines can be a good example. The sensor captured data is relayed to a processing system and applied to the digital copy. Such data running on virtual models can generate valuable insights – which can very gainfully be applied back to the original physical object.

Moving ahead of simulation, these models can be called a virtual environment. Simulations are a one way process; virtual model has a two-way flow of information. The data being ingested is better, constantly updated, relates to a wide range of areas, it helps the virtual model to study more issues from far more vantage points than standard simulations. It is a different fully interactional advanced tech / scientific model, holding immense potential to improve products and services. Given the complexity of our tech existence and our urge for constant improvements, we can find various types of digital twins.  Few examples are asset twins, system or unit twins, process twins etc. Different types of digital twins can co-exist within a system or process.

NASA’s John Vickers introduced this new term in 2010. The benefits of this technology is immense in providing much better and enhanced research and development. It also signals the discovery of an excellent tool with an eye to achieving and maintaining peak efficiency throughout the entire manufacturing process. The fate of product end of life can be assessed and harvested through this tool. The complexity and financial viability are the main parameters of the digital twin technology usage.  It can be used in physically large projects, mechanically complex projects, power equipment and manufacturing projects. Digital twins are already being used across many industries. Its market is poised for a sharp increase. Precision and predictability hold the key.

Sanjay Sahay