Why digital twins are essential for IoT?

What is a digital twin?

A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical object or a process.

This virtual replica can run simulations and tests using physical and digital data to optimize the simulated system. The more faithful the digital twin representation is, the more data we can deduce and extract from the existing system and the more time, money, and effort we save.

Digital twins are not necessarily an independent component in the system, nor are they purely independent simulations. You can orchestrate them to interact with one another to study a system as a whole.

There are four types of digital twins :

• Component twin: simulates a component of the system.
• Asset twin: simulates multiple components working together.
• Unit twin: simulates multiple assets working together (for instance, a production line simulation)
• Process twin: simulates the entire production environment.

Digital twins and IoT:

With the spread of IoT technologies across industries, digital twins have become an essential tool. These two technologies are advancing hand in hand. If you have IoT tech, digital twining is the obvious next step to be part of the industry 4.0 revolution.

Modern industrial machines often use smart meters and IoT sensors for monitoring and controlling. The data sent by these sensors is a valuable resource for building a digital twin and are actually what makes them so reliable and precise. After deployment, a digital twin can be the founding layer of multiple intelligent solutions.

Predictive maintenance and real-time monitoring

Predictive maintenance is an area where digital twins have become very popular recently. IoT sensors configured and placed around/into the system enable us to collect data from internal and external factors, giving great real-time insights into the system’s performance, enabling:

Enhancement of the system efficiency: Analytics and simulations can determine how IoT devices should operate and where to deploy them to be as efficient as possible.
Predictive maintenance: Accurate real-time monitoring improves forecast models. With a precise forecast, maintenance and machinery replacements are performed before a failure event, avoiding a costly interruption of a production line or even a catastrophic system failure.

Don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to apply digital twin technology to your industry and business. We look forward to supporting you and enabling your business to be part of the industry 4.0 revolution!