[Term of the Day]: Digital Twin
Term of the Day
“Digital Twin”
Definition — What is Digital Twin?
Digital twin in simple words can be explained as a virtual representation of a real-world machine, device, process, or system. Digital twin, however, shouldn’t be confused with digitization. A digital twin does not substitute a physical item or process with a digital one to make it more accessible, efficient, or secure. It’s a precise replica of the physical object and a means of testing and monitoring it without needing to access or testing on the real world.
The digital twin concept gained recognition in 2002, after a presentation hosted by Michael Grieves in the University of Michigan on technology. By creating a digital twin, insights about how to improve operations, increase efficiency, or discover an issue are all possible before it happens to whatever it’s duplicating in the real world. The lessons learned from the digital twin can be examined, altered, and tested without interacting with it in the real world and avoiding negative consequences. All these will have a greater impact on delivering better customer experience in business as well.
Digital Twin can be used across various industries and applications to solve a number of different real-world challenges, whether related to technologies, personnel, and more. These challenges can, for example, be related to efficiency improvements for racing cars or for testing fatigue and corrosion resistance in offshore wind turbines.
Experts believe that the implementations of Digital Twin in the world of manufacturing and engineering will radically change future business models.