Digital Twin: Dynamic Digital Clone Of A System

Introduction:

The fast-evolving Industries with huge product lines are in the state to manage the value chain associated with products. It requires sophisticated technology that would be employed to expedite risk assessment, and production time, and monitor the process in real time. It paves a way for the emergence of new technology “Digital Twins”. It is defined as a digital or virtual projection of a physical object, process, service, or environment that acts and appears similar to its counterpart in the real world. For instance, the spacecraft, a whole manufacturing unit, or tall buildings could be replicated into their digital twins which are developed using real-world data to make 3D dynamic models and simulations. It has the capability to diagnose how a product or process will execute.

Digital Twins was first introduced by Grieves in his book “Mirror World” in 2002. Today, it has reached a crucial place that was possible by advances in software technology such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality, and data analytics. These tools and data from the real world were used to develop twins that are utilized to predict the future and mitigate real-time problems. It has been widely accepted in urban planning, designing and manufacturing intricated products like cars, aircraft, or spacecraft, construction of buildings, bridges, drilling platforms, and other enlarged objects, and power generation and transmission processes in energy sectors.

Factors drive the market:

The progression in the digital twin technology is essential to growing the business globally nowadays. Since this technology has shown improvement in efficiency, diminish costs, and engaged in taking quality decisions. In the case of the manufacturing sector, for instance, the digital twin facilitates efficient production management and deciphers crucial issues in regard to process way before they occur. In the transportation segment, need to monitor the working potential of vehicles and program the scheduled maintenance. Whereas, in the energy segment, a necessity to regulate the energy flow and minimize wastage. Hence, it drives the increased utilization of digital twin technology by all these sectors.

Global Market Overview:

The digital twin technology market has reached a market size of $ 10.91 billion in 2022. The utilization of this technology will increase in the future due to its significance and is predicted to rise the market from$15.28 billion in 2023 to $ 161.93 billion in 2030 with CARG 40.1% during the forecast period of 2022-2030.

This technology merged with recently developed technology such as machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to bring new advancements that support companies across various industries to decrease functional costs, improve productivity, enhance performance, and made alterations in the process of predictive maintenance. In the case of product manufacturers, this technology engaged in developing more effective product lines and quick time-to-market.

From a regional perspective, the industries located in the North American region have shown the largest market for digital twin technology. The leading technology providers in North America include Microsoft (U.S), Amazon (ASW), IBM (U.S), and General Electrics (U.S). The aerospace industries continuously focused on developing digital twin technology by investing in research and development are Bell Flight (U.S), Bye Aerospace (US), Lockheed Martin (U.S), and Boeing (U.S). Further, North America has developed an ecosystem for digit twin technology in terms of switching the highly influential automotive & transportation, aerospace, chemical, energy & utilities, and food & beverages into the utilization of digital advancement.

Europe contributes to the second-largest usage of digital twin technology which is majorly driven by the rising adoption of digital twins by government agencies to create the most stable and supportable public infrastructures. In addition to that, Germany and France together uplift the overall market scenario. Since they are constantly striving to implement advanced network technologies such as KNX and Sigfor which allows them to begin IoT platforms by employing digital twins in the automobile and aerospace & defense arena led to a further increase in the growth of digital twin technology adoption in the coming years.

Challenges towards adaptation to Digital Twin Technology:

• The availability of real-time data is insufficient to develop a simulation for the project Digital twin. Since it might be protected by federal authority or restricted pieces of information retrieved from the sensors.
• Even though, the required data is available the digital or computing tool has to evolve and expand across different countries.
• To access this technology to the fullest which needs the complete cooperation of society in all terms is mandatory.
• The upgradation in data security in an organization who are willing to switch to digital twin technology. Since the quantity of data acquired from the source belongs to the proprietary part of a company it has to be well protected.

Application in various sectors:

Geo-digital twins:

It is the projection of spatial information of the real-world surroundings in real time. This extends its application in the construction of buildings where they could retrieve a collection of and watch on data with respect to its structural aspects, plumbing, wiring, and sensor information for safety in case of electricity flow, temperature, or air quality.

Network Digital Twin (NDT):

This digital twin was specifically developed for the necessity of telecommunication processes. It is applicable in the developing infrastructure for 5G base stations involves planning for cross-operator networks, pointing out the crucial barrier that affects performance through forecast analysis, and fastening up the resolution of network problems associated with customers and location.

Metaverse tech:

It is a digital or virtual environment where people can interact and develop using various 3D technology and real-time software. For instance, in industrial IoT, the digital twins that exist in the metaverse would aid in the pilot analysis including monitoring, tracking, and controlling the overall systems the way before developing the original product.

Digital Twin for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS):

In ADAS, the data of vehicles would be uploaded to the cloud serve via a cellular network named as Vehicle-to-cloud. With the use of Vehicle-to-Cloud data, the digital twin model could be developed that benefits the drivers in a number of ways.

Digital twins for the utility industry:

With respect to electric utilities, the technology digital twin could develop a precise model from any location of real systems involving generation, transmission, and distribution assets, or customer consumption of energy and stay connected.

Recommendations:

Digital twin technology going to uplift the economy and revolutionize the industry. The advancement made in this technology and made available across industries to take better decisions. Allowing this technology to be more accessible to real-time data to create a reliable simulation that supports the industries for taking valuable business decisions and quicker the process from product to market.

Digital twin technology can improve collaboration by providing real-time communication between partners, suppliers, and customers, resulting in better-integrated supply chains. Businesses that use digital twin technology will be able to compete in global marketplaces more effectively because they will have a more complete grasp of their products, operations, and customers. Digital twin technology can also enable the development of new business models, such as remote monitoring and predictive maintenance, which can result in new revenue streams and prospects. Last but not least, this technology can address sustainability challenges by assisting businesses in comprehending and maximizing their environmental impact to support ethical business practices.

Cities and communities must identify and design their role in a new digital world, create the appropriate digital capacities in-house or through relevant collaborations, and embrace a new collaborative approach towards data and digital tools across the administration.

Globally, businesses are being greatly impacted by the rising popularity of digital twins, which help companies increase productivity, cut expenses, and make wiser decisions. Digital twins are anticipated to be used more frequently as technology develops, changing how companies function and compete.