A digital twin can and does exist even before a physical person exists.The use of a digital twin in the production phase allows modeling and simulation of the entire life cycle of the planned unit.

Although the concept originated earlier, the first practical definition of a digital twin came from NASA in 2010 to improve physical model simulations of spacecraft.Digital twins are the result of continuous improvement in product design and manufacturing engineering.Product drawings and engineering specifications have moved from manual drafting to computer-aided drafting/computer-aided design to model-based systems engineering and close coupling of the signal to its physical counterpart.

How does a digital twin work? 

The studied object - for example, a wind turbine - is equipped with various sensors related to important areas of operation.These sensors generate data about various aspects of the physical facility's performance, such as energy production, temperature, weather conditions, and more.The processing system receives this information and actively uses the digital copy.

Once the relevant data is provided, the numerical model can be used to run various simulations, analyze performance problems and make potential improvements.

Digital Twins vs. Simulation 

Although simulation and digital twins use digital models to replicate various processes of a system, a digital twin is actually a virtual environment, which makes it much richer to explore.The difference between a digital twin and a simulation is largely a matter of scale: while a simulation usually studies 1 specific process, a digital twin can run any useful simulation to study many processes.

The differences don't end there. For example, simulations typically do not benefit from the availability of real-time data.But digital twins are built around a two-way flow of information, which occurs when the object's sensor systems provide relevant data to the processor and then when the insightscreated by the processor are shared with the original source object.

With better and more constantly updated data from a wider range, along with the additional computing power associated with virtual environments, digital twins can explore more issues from much more vantage points than standard simulations and improve products. with more final capacity. and processes.