Digital Twin - Sahil0253/Faststreamtech-IoT GitHub Wiki

There were the days when one needed to put his own life in jeopardy in order to enjoy a crazy joyride. Nowadays, you can just hook the video game Grand Theft Auto 5 onto your immersive game station and start driving your Ferrari at flying speeds, smashing into lamp posts, buildings, and god-forbid, annoying cops. You get to experience something virtually without actually being physically present in that situation. The simulator is loaded with the physical laws of the real world; meaning you hit a traffic cone on the road, it creates a dent in the car’s hood. It’s also loaded with the dynamics of the car with its unique build in terms of its suspension, transmission, and gorgeous sound of the engine; giving you the “feel” of a real Ferrari. But coming back to reality, you are not a billionaire, you are enjoying a ride on a (sort of) Digital Twin of the real Ferrari. Did it really take us around 4 decades to use this concept in businesses rather than just gaming?

What is Digital Twin? To put it in simple terms, Digital Twin is the virtual representation of the elements and the dynamics of a process, device, or service. Think of it as a next-gen interactive 3D blueprint. Bringing the physical to the virtual. It can be a smart car, a smart building, a process on a factory floor, and much more. A representation of how the design, build, and operations are constructed, monitoring its workflow in real-time, and all this is being optimized continuously from analytics, feedback, and updates specific to a consumer’s needs. It could be a lot of things, so it’s always best to map your own path in this labyrinth of a futuristic concept.

Chris O’ Connor, General Manager, Internet of Things at IBM puts it in a remarkably “simple but detailed” manner wherein he disintegrates Digital Twin into Design, Build and Operate stages.

In the design stage, all the operational insights and product/process feedback is incorporated in order to come up with a more customized and efficient solution that would better serve the end consumer.

In the Build stage, the tentative solution is stress-tested, so to speak, wherein we get insights into how the product or service is faring in a virtual environment built according to real-world specifications. It’s made sure any new directions have taken to have a real chance of providing better outcomes and any mishaps or the rate of wear and tear are predicted and integrated into the equation for how it should be used for a longer life cycle.

In the Operate stage, the Digital Twin Solution can facilitate and provide insights for optimized integration of the solution into different platforms or environments. Its predictive analysis emboldens you with the knowledge of what needs to be done to avoid downtime or even a potential crash-and-burn during its entire life-cycle.