Digital twins are a quickly-developing technology. Essentially, a digital twin is a digital representation of something in the real-world. The digital twin receives data from its real-world twin at regular intervals, making it an extremely useful tool to aid infrastructure management and development.
A digital twin can be something as basic as connecting real-world sensor data to BIM models in spreadsheets, or as advanced as interactive digital environments. This technology opens exciting possibilities across a wide variety of markets in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Here are 5 ways that understanding digital twins can help AEC professionals better serve their clients and communities.
- Digital twins can help us better understand current conditions of our projects. A digital twin of a piece of real-world infrastructure allows us to study current conditions of the infrastructure it represents in regular intervals. This means that we can get ahead of maintenance issues, maybe even fixing problems before they occur. This enhances efficiency, saving clients time and money.
- Digital twins can help us project future conditions for our projects. A digital twin can contain years of data. This has several uses for the AEC industry. For instance, a digital twin can be used to measure past traffic flows in a certain road segment, or how many users a building has historically had. This allows us to better plan for the future, optimizing traffic management or building systems, including automating power, air conditioning, or lighting.
- Digital twins can help guide future projects. Post-design, we can look at data from digital twins to help inform new services and projects we provide for clients. Infrastructure design needs are always shifting; the data from digital twins can help show us where the needs are, so that we can be proactive as we move forward.
- Digital twins connect and elevate other current and developing technologies. At its core, digital twin technology is about connecting the virtual world and the real world. Other technologies that augment our real and virtual environments, including the internet of things (IoT), smart technologies, and visualization technologies, all interact with and build off of each other. For example, if a digital twin is receiving real-time data via an IoT platform, this allows the designer to make informed, real-time shifts in strategy that would not be possible without the simultaneous use of both of these technologies.
- Digital twins are here to stay, so learning how to work with them is vital. Developing the tools you work with and learning how to best integrate digital twins is smart for any AEC firm, as this technology is not going anywhere. New technologies generally only get more entrenched in work processes and build off one another, so it’s best to stay ahead of the curve.
Overall, this exciting technology comes with a wide range of applications and benefits across diverse businesses and markets. I look forward to seeing how the AEC industry incorporates digital twin technology to better our communities.
