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What Is Digital Twins/IIoT?

What are Digital Twins? IIoT? Why Bother?

As is true with any emerging field of technology, Digital Twins is just now coalescing into a clearer definition of what it actually means in practice. Many market observers and vendors have offered up their views on what Digital Twins means to them. The ingredients have been around for a while, but their synergistic combination is just now bearing initial business fruit. Key enablers are the increasing accuracy of CAE models, the declining costs of high-performance computing, expanding cloud accessibility, and low-cost sensors.

What is IIoT? IoT (Internet of Things) is just connecting physical devices/systems to each other via the internet (think: your home internet-connected thermostat and an app on your smartphone that enables you to observe and change the temperature in your home from anywhere on earth if you have an internet connection). If the devices and connections and data transfer via the internet are for business/industrial systems, that’s the INDUSTRIAL Internet of Things. A lot more detailed and involved, but the same basic idea. When one of the “things” is a current/updated physics/simulation-based digital model, that’s where IIoT plays a role in Digital Twins.

Some Digital Twins Definitions

This “How It Works” area of the Revolution In Simulation website is your go-to source for more in-depth background information on Digital Twins and the latest relevant end-user enterprise and vendor case studies and success stories.

Physics-based simulation models (CAE) have proven their mainstream  business value during the development and manufacturing phases of the Product Performance Life-cycle (PPL).

Now they are moving beyond those phases into the entire life cycle of products and systems by being updated/modified to reflect the ongoing true in-field status/condition of such products and by being subject to the actual in-field loadings and boundary conditions obtained from sensors (the Industrial Internet of Things – IIoT). The resulting Digital Twins can then be used to anticipate needed maintenance and predict the behavior of future proposed operational changes to the physical structures and systems they represent in digital form.

 

A Digital Twin for Everybody?

If you look into the future for your company, you need new or better business outcomes. That should be the driver for your company. A company does not need PLM or a Digital Twin. A company might want to reduce its time to market, improve collaboration between all stakeholders. These objectives can be realized by different ways of working and an IT-infrastructure to allow these processes to become digital and connected.

Using Digital Twins to Develop, Test, and Optimize Complex Systems

A True Digital Twin replicates the proposed physical space, and includes all mechanical, robotic, sensor, vision, AI, and computer systems, while simultaneously incorporating real human action and interaction. Humans experience the system in virtual reality (VR), with concurrent motion capture driving their avatars in real time. The avatars interact with virtual objects and their physical “stand ins”, which are also motion-tracked. All aspects of the system, including hardware, software, AI training data/models, and human interaction, are developed, tested and optimized virtually using a proprietary software platform.

Citigroup & NYSERDA FlexTech Project

Citigroup utilized the Digital Twin (DT) from Future Facilities to improve their NYC data center’s efficiency, uncovering potential savings of over $290,000 annually.

Solution Providers:

Video Series: The Digital Twin

A six-part video series on data center digital twins.

Capacity Planning with the Digital Twin

Success within a data center starts with effective communication between teams, and a planning process that is as agile as it is reliable. Because data center managers must respond to problems as they arise, they are often forced risk resilience and efficiency by making decisions based on inadequate data.

WORLD’S LARGEST STRUCTURAL DIGITAL TWIN: AKSELOS’ SUCCESSFUL DEPLOYMENT FOR SHELL’S BONGA MAIN FPSO

With near real-time analysis, the physics-based model of the asset allows Shell and Akselos to monitor the overall health of the asset, reduce down time and boost efficiencies, all while enabling safe asset life extension.

Solution Providers:

Data Center Digital Twins Overview

An overview video of data center digital twins.

6SigmaRoom: Data Center Design and Operations

6SigmaRoom is the industry’s leading data center CFD tool. It is part of the 6SigmaDCX software suite, which integrates IT and engineering operations in capacity planning.

The Data Center Digital Twin

Our vision is a world where all data centers can realize their business potential. To make this vision a reality, we are pioneering the concept of the Digital Twin for data center design and management.

Real Digital Twin for a Complex Process

Data Driven models require Big-Data to perform well which is expensive, complicated to manage and in some cases difficult or impossible to get. However, PIMLᵀᴹ technology integrates physics and Machine Learning requiring only Small-Data.

Simulation, AI & Digital Twins: An Intelligent Response to the COVID19 Pandemic

Digital twins most important mission may be to keep the human species alive long enough at the start of a pandemic virus that is highly lethal, very transmittable, and with long periods of asymptomatic transmission.

Aras Blog: The Digital Twin Time Machine

If you capture a product’s configuration correctly, you have context―which enables you to create traceability. In essence you have created the Digital Twin time machine. The context of the Digital Twin, supported by digital thread data, and analysis tools like simulation or analytics, allows you to move backwards and forwards for any product or system of products.

Paper: Digital Twin – Its Role and Structure within a Modern Systems Engineering Approach

Companies must ensure a cost effective and reliable product is introduced to the market in a timely manner while also addressing the challenges relating to in-service product updates and on-going maintenance. The Digital Twin in the context of virtual engineering and digital transformation is becoming a critical player in such highly innovative and competitive environment.

Akselos SIMLAB series #1: Continual Remote Monitoring of Large Assets with Simulation

Akselos is a new simulation technology that can evaluate structural behavior 1000x faster than traditional techniques. Akselos is capable of producing high-fidelity, physics-based models of large complex assets which may be connected to sensor data to regularly update the simulation model and provide the required assessments in a timely manner.

The Evolution of Digital Twin – and How Emerging Tech Is Driving Adoption

A digital twin is a dynamic digital model of a product, process, or person, which analyzes existing business system data combined with real-world data. However, the value expands past the single digital model of an asset and is increasingly an underpinning element of an organization's digital transformation initiatives.

Digital Twin Continues to Proliferate Software and Digital Industries

The digital twin continues to proliferate and is a concept often associated with Siemens, and given our investment in software, additive manufacturing and the digital industries, this is good news indeed. But sometimes these terms can be too ethereal and my interest is piqued when I see this concept in action.

Webinar: Offshore Wind – Smart Design & Fabrication with Digital Twins

Focused on the optimization of offshore wind design, the webinar is aimed at engineers, project managers and leaders involved in the advancement of the burgeoning wind sector, as well as anyone interested in the digital transformation of engineering design.

OnScale announces Project BreathEasy

Project BreathEasy is a consortium of multiphysics FEA/CFD vendors, medical device manufacturers, engineers, and doctors from around the world who are developing digital twins of the lungs of COVID-19 patients to help doctors improve patient outcomes and optimize use of limited ventilator resources in major outbreak areas.

Use Digital Twins To Virtually Test Products

The use of virtual testing has increased because of the closures of many physical testing labs due to the coronavirus pandemic. Revolution in Simulation sponsor Kinetic Vision has seen an increase in clients requesting virtual testing services using digital twins. In this article and video learn how the company's modeling and simulation teams are helping Fortune 100 customers to perform virtual testing of new products under development.

Simulation-Powered AI with OnScale & MATLAB

This white paper discusses how synthetic datasets for training AI can be generated in hours using the OnScale cloud simulation platform. The demonstrated approach of using synthetic datasets to train AI networks can drastically reduce cost, risk, and time for the development of new hardware technologies.

Visualizing Digital Twins

The true cost of deploying and maintaining a digital twin is in collecting and analyzing the data. The data gives life to static 3D models.

2020 Prediction: Dennis Nagy

Beyond CAE's Dr. Dennis Nagy shares his prediction for Digital Twins in the coming year.

Digital Twin Evolution: The Path to Simulation-Based Twins

"Although analytical twins have existed for a while, this evolution of simulation-based models that lead to the creation of digital twins is really transforming manufacturing, as product designs become more customized, unique and intricate by nature."

Microsoft partner ANSYS extends ability of Azure Digital Twins platform

“Collaborating with ANSYS to create an advanced IoT digital twins framework provides our customers with an unprecedented understanding of their deployed assets’ performance by leveraging physics and simulation-based analytics.” — Sam George, corporate vice president of Azure IoT, Microsoft

Visualizing Digital Twins

The true cost of deploying and maintaining a digital twin is in collecting and analyzing the data. The data gives life to static 3D models.

2020 Prediction: Dennis Nagy

Beyond CAE's Dr. Dennis Nagy shares his prediction for Digital Twins in the coming year.

Digital Twin Evolution: The Path to Simulation-Based Twins

"Although analytical twins have existed for a while, this evolution of simulation-based models that lead to the creation of digital twins is really transforming manufacturing, as product designs become more customized, unique and intricate by nature."

Microsoft partner ANSYS extends ability of Azure Digital Twins platform

“Collaborating with ANSYS to create an advanced IoT digital twins framework provides our customers with an unprecedented understanding of their deployed assets’ performance by leveraging physics and simulation-based analytics.” — Sam George, corporate vice president of Azure IoT, Microsoft

Largest Digital Twin Conference Aims to Demystify Technology

Bentley Systems conference focuses on infrastructure uses of digital twins.

Make an impact in the real world with Digital Twins

Let's discuss the importance of keeping your digital twins in sync with real products. Models so accurate they’re a digital twin of the product you’re creating can help you throughout the design and development process. 1D models can help you determine the best architecture for your multi-physics system, 3D models can help you design into the details, and testing can help you improve modelling realism. Combining all the three technologies gives you the highest possible accuracy while making design decisions. But in today’s world the design job isn’t done when you ship. You have to be able to take feedback, track how products are used – with detailed data coming from the increasing numbers of sensors in modern devices – and then use that to support, maintain and improve the products you have out in the market, as well as incorporating all that information into your next generation. That means keeping your digital twins in sync with the real products, even once they’re in customers’ hands.

Revolutionizing Food & Beverage Production with the Digital Twin and Industrial IoT

How can food and beverage companies use the digital twin and industrial IoT to dramatically improve production performance? This eBook shares the value of the digital twin and IIoT for companies that produce food and consumer packaged goods. Then, it shares some practical examples and advice to get started down the path to streamline R&D and new product development, optimize production plans, increase performance, gain production intelligence, improve quality, and compete as an integrated supply chain.

Benefit from digital twins at any IoT maturity

In a commissioned study of IoT decision makers conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Siemens in May 2019, respondents of varied IoT maturity levels recognized that digital twins can continuously improve their product offerings and improve product quality.

Digital Twins: Driven by Physics-Based Models

Karen Willcox is a leading aerospace researcher and expert in simulation-based engineering who specializes in the aerospace industry. Her work on simplified simulation models has made it possible to accelerate the development and design of complex systems.

Could Digital Twins remove doubt from due diligence during M&A?

Innovation and new technology applications are being established as part of core business management tools and are starting to appear in the area of managing M&A. When M&A is announced, organisations are committing to buy an asset or asset groups – at which point a due diligence effort is usually conducted to establish the actual state of the asset. Digital Twins have shown significant promise for the management of assets, and could also be transformational in the M&A process to qualify the quality of the assets.

Digital Twins in the Hot Seat: Realizing Great Expectations

PREVIOUS WEBINAR AVAILABLE ON DEMAND The phrase “digital twin” has become the be-all-and-end-all of manufacturing buzzwords, stirring up Utopian views on what it can do for predictive maintenance, simulation and more. But how is a digital twin different from a 3D CAD product model? Can it ever live up to its full potential? Is anyone really making use of digital twins? In this LIVE webcast, DE challenges panelists to discuss: a no-nonsense definition of digital twins; the types of products that make sense as digital twins; real-world examples of digital twins in operation.

How to Quickly Create a Simulation-Based Digital Twin of an IIoT-Connected Product

Digital twins are virtual representations of physical products. They have the ability to unlock value and optimization throughout a product’s lifecycle. By leveraging real-world data from IIoT-connected product and physics-based simulations, digital twins can better inform and predict product performance. This enables users to develop new designs, operations and controls to optimize performance, reduce downtime and enable service-based products — often without the customer needing to upgrade hardware. The technology to get an IIoT digital twin running is available, however, many organizations are having a hard time implementing and connecting all of the digital, physical and data assets together. With the help of ANSYS Twin Builder and PTC ThingWorx, engineers can simplify the creation of digital twins using physics-based simulations.

Why digital twins will be the backbone of industry in the future

For industry and the internet of things (#IoT), digital twins, offering virtual representations of real-world products will be the innovation backbone of the future. Entire systems can be simulated and tested long before a physical prototype has been built. Even operation of existing systems can be further optimized using a #DigitalTwin. Imagine the extraordinary possibilities merging them with artificial intelligence (#AI). Industry experts for digital twins are already using all these possibilities in concrete applications. Siemens Stories on Digital Twin: https://sie.ag/2FSldHZ Make use of it: https://sie.ag/2XcV2q8

Digital Twins: Driven by Physics-Based Models

Karen Willcox is a leading aerospace researcher and expert in simulation-based engineering who specializes in the aerospace industry. Her work on simplified simulation models has made it possible to accelerate the development and design of complex systems. Karen E. Willcox is Director of the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences and a Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds the W. A. “Tex” Moncrief, Jr. Chair in Simulation-Based Engineering and Sciences and the Peter O'Donnell, Jr. Centennial Chair in Computing Systems. Prior to joining the Oden Institute in 2018, she spent 17 years as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she served as Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the founding Co-Director of the MIT Center for Computational Engineering, and the Associate Head of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She is also an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.

Digital Twins: Two of a Kind

Exploring how digital twins are shaping our digital fabric and engineering future.

Colloquium “Simulation and Digital Twins”

At the center of the "Simulation and Digital Twins" colloquium was the question of how to better monitor processes and plants using digital twins, and how simulations offer completely new possibilities for 3D production.

Mathematics a key enabler for Digital Twins

Industrial research requires simulation experts with a passion for digital twins. In the race to innovate, their enthusiasm makes the crucial difference.

Digital Twins for As-Maintained Configuration Management Part 1

From RevSim sponsor PLM Alliances' principal Rich McFall comes this excellent CMSights Blog: In this month’s CMsights we asked Configuration Management practitioner, standards influencer, trainer, and author Kim Robertson to help us distill all the hype about digital twins and digital threads so we can understand their impact on as-maintained configuration management for long-life aerospace & defense equipment. Kim Robertson has over 39 years of experience in the A&D sector and is a co-author of “Configuration Management: Theory, Practice and Application” which is being used as the text for a graduate level course in C&DM at the Technical University of Eindhoven. He holds a CMPIC Configuration Management Principles and Implementation certification and is a National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Certified Configuration Data Manager (CCDM). Kim is a member of the SAE International G-33 committee for CM Standards and worked on Revision C of SAE/EIA-649.

The Role of Digital Twins in De-Risking Offshore Operations: The Search for ‘Zero Dive’

Manned diving operations are a necessary part of maintaining offshore oil and gas assets, but also a very costly and dangerous process. With new technological developments such as Digital Twins, could a future where divers no longer have to work on offshore rigs be in sight? Umar Ali explores the potential of ‘zero dive.’

From Simulation Powered Design to Predictive Digital Twins

BECOMING A PREDICTIVE DIGITALLY ENABLED COMPANY”, presented by Front End Analytics, reveals how FEA’s Predictive Analytics 3.0, deployed using EASA, is enabling the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and digital twins for next generation simulation and modeling.

Why Digital Twins will be the Backbone of Industry in the Future

For industry and the internet of things (#IoT), digital twins, offering virtual representations of real-world products will be the innovation backbone of the future. Entire systems can be simulated and tested long before a physical prototype has been built. Even operation of existing systems can be further optimized using a #DigitalTwin. Imagine the extraordinary possibilities merging them with artificial intelligence (#AI). Industry experts for digital twins are already using all these possibilities in concrete applications.

From simulation powered design to predictive digital twins

EASA's Sebastian Dewhurst discusses how much faster the learning process would be if an algorithm "knew". There would be far fewer failures early on, and far less data would be required.

Digital Twins in the Hot Seat: Realizing Great Expectations (June 19th, 2 PM EDT)

The phrase “digital twin” has become quite the manufacturing buzzword, stirring up Utopian views on what it can do for predictive maintenance, simulation and more. But how is it different from a 3D CAD product model? Can it ever live up to its full potential? In this LIVE webcast, DE engages expert panelists to discuss the topic.

Phoenix Contact Electronics GmbH: Fail-Safe Digital Twin

Configurable safety relays help prevent injuries and damage in factory automation systems by cutting off electrical power in response to data received from sensors. When a safety relay fails, the production line must be halted until the relay can be repaired or replaced, resulting in expensive downtime.

ANSYS: How Oil and Gas Digital Twins Improve Prognostics Health Management

The oil and gas industry is always searching for ways to produce energy at lower costs. To achieve this goal, the industry can apply oil and gas digital twins to various industrial equipment. Physics-based digital twins provide prognostics and health management which enables system optimization and predictive maintenance.

Cambashi’s Latest Views on Digital Twins

Cambashi, a leading UK-based computer/software market analyst firm has just published this article on the growing importance of Digital Twins.

Simulation Applications Enable Digitalization at ABB Traction Motors

Industry 4.0 and digital twins are buzzwords we hear on a daily basis. But how far have companies come, and how does COMSOL come into play in the new era? Here, we will look into one successful case, where ABB Traction Motors intends to make mass customization available by using simulation applications for electric motor design. By turning high-fidelity multiphysics models into simulation applications, new analysis capabilities are planned to be available to several departments, from product design to sales.

COMSOL Blog (Ed Fontes): Digital Twins: Not Just Hype

COMSOL Blog: "Is the term “digital twin” just hype, or a trick to get a new angle to sell modeling software? In this blog post, we discuss the difference between models, applications, and digital twins. We conclude that although the term has been misused to a certain extent (in relation to the original formulation), there is substance behind it."

3 “Digital Twin” Stocks for Your Portfolio

Growth in the Internet of Things is spurring interest in digital twins. Here's how you can make money from it.

Virtual Sensors in Digital Twins

"By definition, a virtual sensor is a type of software that, given the available information, processes what a physical sensor otherwise would. It learns to interpret the relationships between the different variables, and observes readings from the different instruments. Think of it as a kind of a “ghost” of the physical sensor." (Chad Jackson)

Digital Twin Approach in Industrial Applications at ZF

ZF applies the latest VR and simulation technology.

CHAD JACKSON: ARE DIGITAL TWINS REALLY NEW?

People have been feeding sensor data to simulations for years. How are Digital Twins different? This post explains the key difference between the two scenarios.

Akselos announces R&D project with the Oil and Gas Technology Centre

Akselos to generate Digital Twins of pressure vessels within the OGTC robotics program.

What is a Digital Twin?

This article explains the concept of a Digital Twin, a digital model driven by sensor data to provide future or deeper insight into an existing physical product's performance.

NAFEMS European Keynote on Digital Twins

At the NAFEMS European Conference in Budapest in October 2018 (focus topic: Multiphysics Simulation), the Moderator of the Digital Twins "How It Works" area of Revolution in Simulation (Dennis Nagy) presented a keynote on the definitions and current status of Digital Twins. Take a look.

Moderators

Success Stories

What good is a revolution if it doesn’t result in useful change? See how companies are achieving significant time savings with measurable improvements in consistency, accuracy & repeatability…READ MORE

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Coming of Age

Digital Twins have been around for a while, but they are just beginning to bear fruit. Key enablers are the increasing accuracy of simulation, lower Cloud computing costs and accessibility, and low-cost sensors.
READ MORE