The concept of "Digital Twin" (DT) refers to the virtual copy or model of any physical entity (physical twin), both interconnected through the exchange of real-time data. Conceptually, a DT mimics the state of its physical twin in real-time, and vice versa. Applications include real-time monitoring, design/planning, optimization, maintenance, and remote access. This technology can enhance the competitiveness, productivity, and efficiency of businesses by connecting physical and virtual worlds in real-time. Originating from the aerospace industry, the DT is poised to revolutionize other sectors. Its main applications include design, optimization, maintenance, security, decision-making, remote access, and training. This concept, representing a virtual replica of an object or system, provides learning, reasoning, and dynamic calibration throughout its lifecycle, improving decision-making through the use of real-time data and other sources. These complex computerized representations can be modified in real-time, resulting in exact replicas of the real world.
In the era of Industry 4.0, the DT is regarded as a key element for gaining a competitive and economic advantage in sectors undergoing digital transformation.The DT, utilizing real-time data from IoT sensors and models powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), stands out from previous computer models for receiving accurate and timely data and maintaining constant communication with the represented object.
Some reported benefits of DT technology include:
1. Innovation and adaptation: simulations for quickly exploring different situations shorten design and analysis processes, allowing greater flexibility in customizing products based on user needs.
2. Cost efficiency: by using virtual resources, the DT reduces prototyping costs over traditional material-based approaches. This facilitates testing in different scenarios without additional costs, contributing to extending the life of devices and containing operational costs.
3. Issue anticipation and systemic planning: real-time data flow between physical elements and the DT enables the prediction of issues at various stages of the product lifecycle, particularly advantageous for complex products.
4. Solution optimization and efficient maintenance: the DT anticipates defects, plans preventive maintenance, and offers optimal solutions. Constant feedback cycles between the DT and its physical counterpart continuously optimize system processes.
5. Remote access: remote control and monitoring of physical devices through the DT improve accessibility, crucial in situations like the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring safe and contactless operations.
6. Security management: in extreme and hazardous sectors such as oil and gas, the DT reduces risks by allowing remote access to physical twins and predicting potential failures. During the pandemic, the DT enhances security through remote monitoring without the need for human contact.
7. Waste minimization: virtual prototyping in the DT significantly reduces material waste, allowing design analysis in various test scenarios before production.
8. Document management and communication: the DT synchronizes scattered data, simplifying access and maintenance. It facilitates the documentation and communication processes of the behavior and mechanisms of physical twins.
9. Advanced training: the DT facilitates more efficient safety training programs, reducing risks by exposing operators to various processes and scenarios before fieldwork. It helps bridge the knowledge gap between experienced workers and newcomers.
In the healthcare sector, DTs are employed for hospital management, resource optimization, simulation of medical interventions, and predicting health outcomes. They also contribute to the evaluation and design of new medical devices, improving design effectiveness and ensuring regulatory compliance. This technology, representing a virtual copy of a machine or person, requires the collection of massive volumes of data through associated IoT sensors. Based on patient lifestyle, dietary habits, and glucose data, it contributes to alerting patients to prescriptions, dietary adjustments, medical consultations, and other preventive situations.
The use of DTs in medicine allows healthcare professionals to provide more proactive preventive care, predicting potential diseases and monitoring lifestyles. The technology offers precise simulations to identify early signs of diseases and harmful health behavior trends. Through long-term collaborations with technology companies, healthcare providers are developing virtual health services, improving operational efficiency and addressing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. DTs are essential to address the challenges of timely and efficient healthcare delivery while ensuring greater accessibility and reducing development costs.
In the healthcare sector, their utility extends from hospital management to in-depth analysis of data, including healthcare staff schedules. Simplified access to this information helps reduce costs and optimize the overall patient experience, proving crucial in a complex context involving systems, technologies, people, places, and processes.
These virtual replicas enable real-time simulations, allowing the imitation of real environments and analysis of reactions to significant changes. Supported by updated algorithms and analyses, this technology assists doctors in the remote monitoring of patients, improving access to care and contributing to a more targeted choice of medications. In the field of pharmaceutical research, they are essential, allowing the simulation of new drugs on virtual groups of patients with various genetic characteristics and symptoms. This could reduce the number of necessary clinical trials, promoting efficiency in the healthcare sector.
These models find applications in various business contexts, enabling the remote monitoring of devices and optimizing product design. The sharing and synthesis of data support immediate decisions, influencing key performance indicators of organizations. Overall, it offers advanced virtual models that go beyond simply replicating human anatomy, contributing to the production of medical equipment and transforming key sectors, including the healthcare field.