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Beyond manufacturing, digital twin technology has advanced into the convergent worlds of the Internet of Things,
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Applied Technology Review | Tuesday, April 26, 2022
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Digital twins are virtual representations of real devices that data scientists and IT professionals can use to run simulations before building and deploying genuine devices.
Fremont, CA: Beyond manufacturing, digital twin technology has advanced into the convergent worlds of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and data analytics. As increasingly complicated objects become connected and capable of producing data, having a digital equivalent enables data scientists and other IT workers to optimize deployments for maximum efficiency and explore alternative what-if scenarios.
A digital twin is a computer model of a physical object or system. The technology underpinning digital twins has expanded to incorporate buildings, industries, and even cities, and some have suggested that digital twins can also include people and processes, further broadening the notion. A digital twin is a computer software that accepts real-world data about a physical object or system as inputs and outputs predictions or simulations about the impact of those inputs on that physical object or system.
Digital Twins and IoT
Clearly, the proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) sensors has aided the development of digital twins. As IoT devices improve, digital-twin scenarios might encompass less sophisticated items, giving additional benefits to organizations.
Digital twins can be used to forecast multiple outcomes based on changeable data. This is analogous to the run-the-simulation scenario, which is typically depicted in science fiction films and entails demonstrating a plausible event in a digital world. Digital twins can often enhance an IoT deployment for optimal efficiency using additional software and data analytics, as well as assist designers in determining where things should go or how they should operate before they are physically installed.
The better a digital twin can replicate a physical object, the more efficiency and other benefits are likely to be discovered. For example, in manufacturing, where heavily instrumented equipment is used, digital twins could be used to model how the devices have behaved through time, thereby assisting in the prediction of future performance and failure.