Digital Twin Architecture

Digital Twin Architecture

Digital twin technology orchestrates processes, 
people, and things in a sophisticated way.

Test new ideas

Test new ideas

Uncover problems before they happen

Uncover problems before they happen

Monitor items remotely

Monitor items remotely

What is a digital twin?

Digital twins are virtual replicas of a physical product, process, or system that bridge the physical and digital worlds. Digital twins use sensors to collect real-time data about a physical item, which is used to create a virtual duplicate of the item. The digital duplicate can be optimised, manipulated and analysed to test different scenarios in a risk-free environment.

Features of digital twin architecture

Features of
digital twin architecture

  • Bullet point Virtual representation of a virtual ecosystem map of assets across operations and business processes
  • Bullet point Accessible, real-time data flowing across connected systems
  • Bullet point Data intelligence allows for constant monitoring of any entity, system, or device, shared to interactive dashboards in real time
  • Bullet point Secure components of digital twins can be shared with various stakeholders in the ecosystem

Advantages of digital twins

Automate workflows

Mitigate risks

Drive greater sustainability

Overcome data and organisational silos

Truly understand how well your operations are performing

Better collaboration and communication, regardless of location

background

Digital twin use cases

Today’s digital twin technology can be used in new and mature ways, integrating smart sensors, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to solve the most prominent organisational challenges.

  • Improving efficiencies
  • Optimising processes
  • Detecting problems before they occur
  • Innovating for the future

What is an example of a digital twin?

Commercial real estate and building management

Digital twins allow building operators to bring together previously unconnected systems to gain new insights, optimise workflows, and monitor processes remotely. The technology can also give occupants more control over their personal workspaces and environmental conditions, thereby enhancing their experience. By optimising building systems using digital twins, operators can:

  • Reduce costs
  • Avoid future costs
  • Increase occupancy rates
  • Improve the overall asset value of the building

Energy management platforms such as Smarter Technologies’ SmarterView essentially create a digital twin of the energy profile of a smart building. Before making changes to the physical environment, energy managers can manipulate energy consumption in the digital realm to assess its impact and make decisions accordingly.

The digital thread produced by digital twins enables data flows. It provides an integrated view of asset data, helping to optimise product life cycles by identifying gaps in operational efficiencies and producing a wealth of process improvement opportunities.

Supply chains have undergone massive disruption and instability in the last few years in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war on Ukraine, with shortages of raw materials, and finished products impacting daily life. Supply chain visibility has become more important than ever before. Deploying digital twin technology enables companies to:

  • Digitise their end-to-end supply chains
  • Use intelligence to automate and optimise operations
  • Reduce risk
  • Increase on-time delivery

Full control from SmarterView, your personalised digital twin platform

Maximising the usefulness of digital twins requires high-performing databases that can pull together and process various data sets in real time. SmarterView is our cloud-based application that can be accessed through any smart device, giving you a digital twin of your facility in the palm of your hand.

Dashboard

  • Save time, money and resources Real-time alerts
  • Fast asset recovery Real-time visual status of all tags, sensors & statuses
  • Optimise asset lifecycles Two-way communication to tags
  • Maximise productivity Real-time error notifications

Reports

  • Save time, money and resources Daily/weekly/monthly - your choice
  • Fast asset recovery Automatically compiled and sent
  • Optimise asset lifecycles Historical records on demand
  • Maximise productivity Easy to export and send

Interested in producing better business outcomes, better environmental outcomes, and better social outcomes using digital twins?

Contact us to learn more.

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FAQ

In the past, digital twins were used to improve the performance of single assets, such as wind turbines or jet engines. These days, they connect not just one asset, but systems of assets and devices or even entire organisations. As they combine more and more assets with information about processes and people, their ability to help solve complex problems is also increasing.

Digital twin technology is different to building information modelling (BIM). Although there are some key similarities, BIM focuses on a building's design and construction, whereas a digital twin models how people interact with built environments.

BIM = A process involving generating and managing digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of places.

Digital twin = A digital replica of physical assets, processes and systems that can be used for various purposes.

Through the integration of technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and software analytics with data, A digital twin uses data from connected sensors to tell the story of an asset all the way through its life-cycle. From testing to use in the real world.