What is a Digital Twin?
Simply put, a digital twin is a digital representation of the physical world. The quality that separates a digital twin from a 3D model or Building Information Model is the ability to also represent a virtual model of a process, product or service. Pairing the virtual and physical worlds to allow analysis and monitoring of systems, solving issues before they become operational problems.
The term “digital twin” was coined by John Vickers of NASA in a 2010, splitting the concept into three distinct parts: the physical product, the digital/virtual product, and connections between the two products. The connections between the physical and the virtual is data that flows between them. It has come back to the fore recently with the advent of 5G communication and internet of things (IoT) connected devices.
As an example, the IoT device could measure room temperature, sending metrics out via WIFI or 5G to a digital twin virtual version of a building which reports and flags a temperature maximum or minimum in real time. The potential is massive to streamline facility operations, manage assets through their lifecycle and lower the latency if key decision making data. This is why Digital Twins were listed by Gartner as one of the top 10 tech trends.
Where do we come in?
To create a digital twin for an existing facility or asset, you first need to create a 3D digital model. This needs to be done quickly, to an agreed specification and critically to a level of detail that hits the end use case planned for the twin. We understand rapid reality capture and can talk clients through the process of gaining safe access, combining SLAM (simultaneous location & mapping) with photogrammetry and mobile mapping into one registered point cloud. Our modelling teams can then combine auto extracted pipework with modelled elements to create a ‘Digital Twin ready model’
If you are at the early stages of a project, we can consult to develop a fit for purpose specification and if the twin is also to be used for refurbishment and construction, we can offer our client’s guide to ‘scantoBIM’ and our BIM execution plan.
What next?
Once we are through the reality capture and modelling phase, we work with partner companies who can integrate this into an operational platform and advise on integrating connected devices. For manufacturing, you may hear the phrase ‘Industry 4.0’ which is leading towards the same goal as a Digital Twin. For Infrastructure and management of estates and building assets, the names may change, but the focus is the same – a connection of the physical and virtual to leverage the data.
Via Geospatial world
Get in touch to discuss your project requirements and talk through your ideas with our team.