디지털 트윈이란?
디지털 트윈은 실제 오브젝트나 시스템의 데이터가 풍부한 가상 복제본으로, 현실의 동작을 시뮬레이션하여 건축과 제조 등의 산업 전반에서 설계, 테스트, 운영 관리를 개선할 수 있도록 지원합니다.
디지털 트윈의 작동 방식
디지털 트윈은 고급 시뮬레이션 기술로 작동하며, 물리적 엔티티와 해당 가상 대응물 간의 양방향 연결을 형성합니다. 센서, IoT 디바이스, 기업 시스템에서 지속적으로 데이터를 교환하며 디지털 모델을 실시간으로 업데이트합니다.
정적 3D 모델과 달리 디지털 트윈은 수명 주기 전반에서 발전하며 현재 조건과 과거 성능을 반영하고 미래 시나리오에 대한 예측 분석을 구현합니다.
Digital twins enable cross-functional teams to collaboratively design, build, test, deploy and operate complex systems in interactive and immersive ways. They help companies understand the past, view present conditions, and prevent future problems. They inform decision-making through sales and marketing insights, analysis, 3D visualization, simulation, and prediction.
디지털 트윈 활용
건축 회사는 구조 모델을 HVAC 시스템, 점유 패턴, 환경 데이터와 연동하여 에너지 소비와 유지관리 일정을 최적화하는 건물 디지털 트윈을 구현합니다.
마찬가지로 제조 시설에서는 물리적 변경 사항을 구현하기 전에 다양한 운영 설정을 시뮬레이션하는 포괄적인 생산 라인 트윈을 생성하여 비용이 많이 드는 가동 중지 시간과 검증 프로세스를 최소화합니다.
가장 정교한 구현은 물리 기반 시뮬레이션 기능과 머신러닝 알고리즘을 결합하여 가상 예측과 실제 결과 간의 관찰된 차이를 기반으로 더 정확한 예측을 확보하기 위해 지속적인 개선을 거칩니다.
실제 운영에 지장을 주지 않으면서 실험하고 최적화를 구현할 수 있는 안전한 환경을 제공하여 디지털 트윈은 개발 비용을 크게 줄이면서 산업 전반에서 혁신 주기를 단축합니다.
How do you create a digital twin?
Digital twins are created by importing conceptual models (via BIM, CAD, or GIS) or scanning physical entities in the real world to visualize and analyze them in combination with enterprise and Internet of Things (IoT) data. A digital twin that is powered by real-time 3D, a computer graphics technology that generates interactive content faster than human perception, can also curate, organize and present multiple sources of data (both information and models) as lifelike, interactive visualizations.
Digital twins are virtual representations of the movements, forces, and interactions that assets can undergo in the physical world. This lets users engage with dynamic content that is three-dimensional and responsive to their actions in real-time. In this virtual environment, they can effectively simulate real-world conditions, what-if scenarios and any circumstance imaginable, and visualize the outcomes instantly on any platform, including mobile devices, computers, and augmented, mixed and virtual reality (AR/MR/VR) devices.
Each digital twin deployment is unique. Deployments often occur in stages, with each phase increasing in complexity and business impact. A digital twin can range from a product configurator of a 3D model to a precise representation of a network or system as vast as a city, with each of its components dynamically linked to engineering, construction, operational data, and virtual design.
As teams across disciplines and locations design, engineer, build, sell and eventually operate and maintain complex builds, digital twins inform their decision-making at every stage of the lifecycle.
History of digital twin technology
The concept of using a digital twin as a means of studying a physical object was first introduced by NASA in the 1960s. NASA replicated its spacecrafts at ground level to match the systems in space for exploration missions. This technology was notably demonstrated in the Apollo 13 mission. Through the connected twins, Mission Control was able to quickly adapt and modify the simulations to match the conditions of the damaged spacecraft and troubleshoot strategies to bring the astronauts safely home.
In the early 1970s, mainframe computers were used as digital twin-esque systems to monitor large facilities such as power plants. In the 1980s, 2D CAD systems like AutoCAD emerged to produce technical drawings, making it possible to design anything with a computer, and were quickly adopted by millions of designers and engineers.
By the 2000s, 3D CAD with parametric modeling and simulation enabled the design of more complex assemblies in more intelligent ways, like a database of interconnected objects. Fast-forward to the mid-2010s when all leading 3D CAD vendors launched cloud-connected solutions, primarily for collaboration and project management, and gradually for generative design, although CAD tools remained desktop-based.
Our present day marks the genesis of the age of real-time 3D powered digital twins, going beyond dashboards and 3D models to unlock data from multiple sources on any device or platform for better collaboration, visualization, and decision-making.
Benefits of a digital twin
With digital twin deployments, customers immediately realize improved access to data. As a digital twin matures, other benefits include reduced maintenance costs, more informed process change decisions with large potential savings, and improvements in maintenance and operational efficiency. Having better designs from the start pays dividends over a project’s lifetime, as 80–90% of costs incurred during the production, use, and maintenance of a facility are determined at the design stage.
Using digital twins in the design industry has improved multiuser collaboration and communication. Preconstruction clients experience seamless aggregation of data and trade coordination.
The safety training, quality assurance and quality control that’s possible with digital twins have significantly reduced accidents and mistakes in the construction industry. When digital twin initiatives are used for maintenance and operations, the benefits include optimized operations, reduced downtime, and decreased maintenance and personnel costs.
The ability to interact with data in real-time is changing the way people make design, operations, and maintenance decisions. The power to visualize and simulate complex operations in real-time 3D has elevated how people interact with their assets, transforming the way every physical space and asset on the planet is created, built, and operated.
How are digital twins and internet of things (IoT) related?
Digital twins are visualizations built from conceptual models (e.g., BIM, CAD, or GIS) or scans of physical entities (e.g., manufactured products or facilities). The Internet of things (IoT) refers to a network of physical objects that possess unique identifiers (UIDs) and contain embedded technology. This enables them to communicate and interact with other objects over the internet, collecting real-world and real-time data. When digital twins integrate with IoT data, they can provide insights into the performance of an asset at specific points in time, and help users evaluate potential outcomes and plan resolutions.
With access to IoT sensors and data, digital twins can capture a holistic view of the virtual model to unlock deeper operational intelligence. For example, a digital twin of an engine might contain information about its performance characteristics and allow engineers to run simulations to test new designs or measure the impact of future changes.
While there are many different types of digital twins, they all share a number of common characteristics. They use digital representations of physical objects and systems, contain UIDs so that they can be easily identified by devices on the internet, and allow for bidirectional communication between themselves and physical IoT devices to exchange information and coordinate actions.
Digital twin challenges
It's one thing to gather extensive data, but it's quite another to consume it in an intelligent way. The best decisions are made using data, but your data is only as good as your ability to bring it to life to simulate and predict business scenarios.
Every enterprise going through a digital transformation risks drowning in raw data before finding a way to process and leverage it. Today, capturing raw data is less of a challenge than processing it, filtering the useless parts, combining it, and transforming it into information that makes sense to the user in the context of their application.
The main challenge is unlocking the power of information. Enterprise and IoT data has been buried in databases, spreadsheets, and models (CAD, BIM, GIS). Real-time 3D digital twins can bring that data to life.
The future of digital twins
Increasingly, products, equipment, factories, buildings, and cities are no longer merely things in the physical world – they have accurate virtual counterparts. Even people have digital twins. We will experience the next iteration of the internet – and the connectedness of systems, devices, people – in the metaverse via real-time 3D.
The metaverse is unlocking a new economy with countless opportunities - such as 3D marketing - for immersive experiences in cross-digital and hybrid reality spaces, whether it’s to manage facility updates or customize a vehicle purchase.
