- Date 6 Apr 2021
The definition of what is a digital twin is a heated topic.
The term digital twin is often used to describe an evolution of IoT solutions where sensory data is captured and stored digitally about a physical asset or process, and that digital data is represented in a meaningful way to do something actionable, in an automated way.
The definition I most resonate with is from Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in the UK:
“Live digital coupling
of the state of physical assets or process
to a virtual representation
with a functional output”
This definition implies that for a technology solution to be considered a digital twin it should:
- Have a means to monitor physical assets or processes digitally (e.g. with sensors connected to the internet) often enough to be considered “live”
- Have a means to represent the digital data (e.g. digital data stored with context of the physical asset or process)
- (Most often) have a means of visualising the state of the physical counterpart, and the solution must do something useful.