Digital twins in two definitions
According to Gartner, “all digital twins have two primary roles for improving business outcomes.” One of those roles is to improve situational awareness: “Functionally, all digital twins — at a minimum — monitor data from things to improve our situational awareness.” In practice, this means that a digital twin will represent, in some way, the operation of a process using data gathered from sensors that monitor the elements of the process – for example, machines on a production line – to tell operators what is happening in their process at any time, and which can be analyzed to provide insights into how the process could be optimized to increase output and improve environmental performance. If the digital twin is connected to actuators in the factory, this optimization can even happen automatically. The representation may be graphical – a flow diagram of the process or a 3D rendering of a factory production line – or it may be just a series of changing numbers on a table or dashboard.
The Digital Twin Consortium, on the other hand, defines a digital twin as “a virtual representation of real-world entities and processes, synchronized at a specified frequency and fidelity” which use “real-time and historical data to represent the past and present and simulate predicted futures”. This definition does not insist on the live link to sensors specified by Gartner. For the Digital Twin Consortium, it can be updated hourly, daily, weekly, or even monthly, as long as the updating frequency is specified.
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Dr. Qatu is the Dean of the GameAbove College of Engineering and Technology at Eastern Michigan University His College houses about 1800 undergraduate students, 300 graduate students (masters and PhD). The College has ABET accredited programs in mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, civil engineering, engineering technology and cybersecurity. In addition, the college offers construction management, aviation technology and management, and other programs. He served as the Director of the School of Engineering and Technology at Central Michigan University, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Mississippi State University and other schools. He also held senior engineering positions for Dresser Industries, Dana Corporation and mostly at Ford Motor Company for approximately 14 years. He received his MS and PhD from the Ohio State University in 1986 and 1989; respectively. His main research interests are automotive noise vibration and harshness (NVH),composite structures, and engineering mechanics. He is the Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration and on the editorial board of several journals. He is the author or co-author of more than 100research publications, in addition to four books and two patents/prior art. He is a recipient of several from various international universities as well as industry. He has been a key note speaker in many national and international events. He is a Fellow in both the American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME)and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).
