The world is currently undergoing major changes unseen in a century, and the digital economy has become the focus of economic development in various countries. The digital economy is also the only way for my country's social and economic development.
In recent years, the development of big data, artificial intelligence, digital twins and other technologies has promoted the further integration of technology and various domestic industries, thus promoting the accelerated development of various industries in terms of intelligence and digitalization.
In the future, all industries may optimize production and operation processes through digital means, thereby improving industry efficiency.
In the process of digital transformation in various industries, digital twins are the key starting point. At present, the theoretical system of digital twins is basically mature, and it has also been deeply applied in industries such as engineering construction and product design and manufacturing.
What exactly is a digital twin? This article will take you to understand digital twins from the development background, definition, and characteristics of digital twins.
It all started with a space program....
This space program is the famous "Apollo program"!
At that time, NASA planned to build two identical spacecraft, one of which flew to space to perform missions, and the other stayed on the earth to reflect the working status of the "brothers" in space in the mission, so as to help deal with the problems in the work. Emergency situations. This is where the early concept of "twins" originated.
Of course, at that time, I still wanted to put two physical spacecraft, not the so-called "digital twin". The idea of digital twin (Digital Twin) first appeared in Professor Grieves's product life cycle management course at the University of Michigan. It was formally proposed in NASA's technical report in 2010. In the report, NASA defined digital twins as "a system or aircraft simulation process that integrates multi-physical quantities, multi-scale, and multi-probability" for the application of aircraft health management. Later, NASA and the U.S. Air Force gradually discovered the value of digital twins, and they used digital twins more and more in the aerospace field, such as airframe design and maintenance, aircraft failure prediction, aircraft capability assessment, and so on.
Digital Twin Definition
What is a digital twin?
A digital twin is a virtual model primarily designed to accurately reflect a physical object. The digital twin will equip the research object with various sensors to collect important parameters. The sensors will collect data on the performance of the object and forward the data to the processing system and apply it to the digital replica.
Overlooking Magma Digital Twin Visualization—Smart Factory
For example, if we want to optimize the production process of the factory and improve production efficiency, we can create a digital twin to simulate and monitor the operation of the factory.
First, we use sensors and IoT devices to collect data from various devices in the factory, such as temperature, humidity, machine operating status, etc. These data will be transmitted to the cloud platform through the network for storage and analysis.
Then, on the cloud platform, we use data analysis and modeling techniques to transform the collected data into a digital model of the factory. This digital model is a virtual representation based on actual equipment and processes, which reflects the structure, operating rules and associations of the factory.
Finally, through the visual interface, we can monitor the operating status of the factory in real time and compare it with the digital model. If any abnormalities or potential problems are found, we can take corresponding measures immediately to avoid production interruption or quality problems.
Digital Twin Features
Some people say, isn't the digital twin the Metaverse?
Overlooking the Jiemayuan Universe Exhibition Hall
Indeed, the two have similarities in terms of virtualization and emulation, but they are two different concepts.
Digital twins are mainly used to simulate and monitor real systems. It is mainly based on real sensors and data, and simulates, monitors and optimizes by building actual systems, such as agriculture, parks, etc.
Overlooking Magma Digital Twin Visualization—Smart Agriculture
The metaverse is a broader concept, which is a holographic, virtual, and real world.
Similar to the parallel worlds we often see in film and television dramas, Metaverse is equivalent to an existing, virtual parallel world, where people can participate in various activities as virtual identities, interact with other people, explore virtual environments, and even conduct business transactions .
The concept of the metaverse pays more attention to the interaction and experience between people and the virtual world, as well as the creation and expansion of the virtual environment. The digital twin has the following typical characteristics:
1. Interoperability
In digital twins, digital space and physical objects can be mapped bidirectionally, and can be linked and synchronized with each other.
We can reflect the data and status of physical objects into the digital space through sensors, monitoring equipment and other methods. In turn, we can also guide and optimize the operation of physical objects by utilizing models and simulations in the digital space.
2. Real-time
The real-time nature of the digital twin means that the digital twin system can reflect and update the status and data of the actual system in a near real-time manner.
Usually, the digital twin collects the data of the actual system through sensors and data acquisition equipment, and transmits it to the digital twin system for processing and analysis. A digital twin uses this data to update the digital model and reflect the current state of the actual system.
Real-time means that the data update and feedback of the digital twin system is almost instant. When the actual system changes, the digital twin system can quickly capture these changes and update the digital model in real time. This way, we can see the latest state of the actual system in the digital twin.
3. Fidelity
The physical entity and digital virtual body in the digital twin are very close. Not only the high-level simulation of the geometric structure, but also the simulation of the state, time and phase. The simulation of digital twins will vary according to different needs. For example, in working conditions, it may only be required to describe the physical properties of the virtual body, without paying attention to the chemical structure and details.
At present, digital twin technology has been widely applied in industries, manufacturing, smart cities, medical care and other fields, and will play its unique role in more fields in the future. Digital twin technology itself has the characteristics of in-depth analysis and efficient decision-making, which is of great significance to promote the process of digital industrialization in my country.