"Integration of diverse information in an IoT ecosystem"
Digital twins are on everyone's lips. But apparently the term is not always understood to mean the same thing. The ew editorial team talked about this with Dr Dennis Kolberg, Chief Product Officer at Digimondo GmbH in Hamburg. The IoT specialist gets to the bottom of the essence of the digital twin, explains how they work, their areas of application and their benefit: "Digital twins are used to simplify and optimise daily processes."
Dr Kolberg, everyone is talking about the digital twin. According to Wikipedia, this is "a digital representation of a tangible or intangible object from the real world in the digital world". This definition does not make much. To have a common understanding: What do you understand by a digital twin?
Kolberg: I like to illustrate this with the the example of my LinkedIn profile. This is a digital twin of mine! Anyone who visits my social media account has a clear picture of the real person Dennis Kolberg. Because this digital twin combines different information at one central point: my picture, my professional career, my network, my links to Twitter. That's the master data. Then there is information from third-party systems, such as links to publications in other media and content that I like. At the same time, my profile maps a process: what I posted and when, what I liked. This could be translated as transaction data, which at the same time depicts the history.
So the digital twin in the IoT context is, in your words, what?
Kolberg: The clear integration of diverse information in an IoT ecosystem. The digital twin of an object bundles different information - for example master, measurement, sensor and status data - from different sources on one platform and presents it in such a way that you have a comprehensive picture of this object at first glance and can design processes more intelligently on the basis of this combined information.
Simplicity seems to be an important criterion for the creation and use despite the diversity of information? Why?
Kolberg: Simplicity is actually one of the three premises of our software development. The other two pillars are design and integration. Ultimately, design and integration also pay off in terms of simplicity. Anyone using the software should be able to do so intuitively. Think of a caretaker in building management, for whom the digital twinis supposed to make his life easier: digital twin is supposed to make his life easier: No cryptic sensor or identification numbers will help him, but only a quick overview of what is going on in the building at the moment, for example in terms of temperature, humidity and CO2 content and whether windows and doors are open or closed. This overview is provided by a dashboard display. On the other hand, the caretaker can, if necessary, zoom into the digital image of the building and the rooms and look at sensor values in detail.
What improves the efficiency of his work processes?
Kolberg: This is exactly the goal. Digital twins are used to simplify and optimise daily processes. Our example caretaker no longer has to physically go everywhere all the time to check things, but he switches to remote monitoring, so to speak, and reacts specifically to events that actually require his presence or intervention.
Let's stay with the keyword simplicity. Does that also apply to administration?
Kolberg: At Digimondo, we have invested a lot of knowledge, work and iteration to make the digital twin based on our IoT platform niota as simple as possible in this respect as well. Wizzards support users in integrating sensors and configuring process steps. This enables users to assemble and map a new use case themselves with just a few mouse clicks, be it a building, a water pipe, a transformer station, a factory plant - whatever. This is also imperative because companies want to quickly benefit from IoT-based applications. Our customers have moved beyond the small proof of concepts phase and are very often going into the big rollout. Therefore, the system must be usable without having to have a deep understanding of the basic technology. The users in the companies are usually not IT or IoT professionals.
How do graphics and integration contribute to the simplicity of use?
Kolberg: The map-based representation of a smart city, for example, conveys much more orientation than when I have to search for information in tables and databases or find my way around them. In this case, it is the graphic that says more than a thousand words. For demonstration purposes, we have built a digital twin of our office building in Hamburg for demonstration purposes. Anyone who looks at it and tests it immediately understands how easy it is to use and how much fun it is to work with. On the other hand, what takes place in the background must of course be highly automated. In other words, different data sources, IT systems and protocols are combined and integrated. On the one hand, we're talking about data from the Internet of Things, which comes into the system from measuring devices or sensors, for example, via LoRaWAN, narrowband IoT, mioty or, in the future, via the 450 MHz radio network. On the other hand, we integrate the classic IT world into the digital twin: ERP and billing systems, workforce management and Scada software, for example. Of course - as already mentioned - digital maps can also be integrated. In the digital twin, the IT and IoT worlds merge. Everything is mapped bundled in the digital twin. Incidentally, also on the time axis, so that the history is also available.
The fact that the digital twin collects data is crying out for intelligent evaluation and, based on this, possibly even for automatic process control. Vision or reality?
Kolberg: Reality! Of course we are making the digital twin
intelligent in conjunction with data analytics applications. There is great added value if, for example, latent inefficiencies can be uncovered. Automatisms can be created independently of this, but in a much simpler context: If the system registers that a window in a building is open or has been opened at night, a message can automatically be sent to the security service to take care of it. Or a sensor detects unusually high flow rates at a pipeline. Then the system can directly inform the responsible technician. Or - another example - at the end of the month, consumption information is automatically sent to a billing system.
So the digital twin, as you define and develop it at Digimondo, is by no means just a passive digital image of an object, but an active optimisation tool or even a cockpit?
Kolberg: Absolutely. Digital twins exist in many different forms and depths. Of course, it depends very much on the respective application. If Nasa simulates a moon landing or an architect plans a building using CAD, the requirements are different from those for mapping and controlling a smart city. But ultimately, all these digital twins are related and have the same goal: to optimise or better control complex objects and processes remotely or to make them more controllable.
Keyword smart city: What are typical tasks for the digital twin there?
Kolberg: Municipalities and public utilities can use the digital twin to map the
map the entire city and make it smartly controllable. Here we are talking about monitoring, building surveillance, lighting control, parking space management, waste bin level control, green space management, etc.
waste bins, green space and irrigation management, water level monitoring and air quality monitoring.
Digimondo also addresses industrial companies in all sectors. What are typical tasks there?
Kolberg: We encounter many identical or similar requirements there when we think of the management of factory buildings and premises. But IoT-based production and logistics processes can also be optimised. In our just-in-time production world, it is crucial to know where certain vehicles, articles or parts are currently located. This asset tracking even works globally.
Is it a challenge to map so many different applications with one software?
Kolberg: A large part of the requirements can be covered with generic functionalities. We can solve around 60 % of our customers' tasks with niota out of the box. If special tasks need to be mapped or more in-depth considerations need to be made, we offer module-based specific solution modules that can be used like apps on a smartphone. There are now
a whole series of them. This is how we manage the balancing act between basic and special functionalities. It is important that product development always takes place in close cooperation with our customers. You can't solve a customer's problem without knowing and understanding it.
