The building industry is undergoing digital transformation, and Digital Twins are the “hot” technology to design and manage new projects and developments.
The use of virtual representations of physical assets goes back many years, especially in aerospace and marine exploration industries.
Since the arrival of computer-aided design (CAD) applications, especially the ones able to create 3D visualizations of physical objects, the idea of having virtual representations of the physical world emerged.
It is now with the massive deployment of IoT devices and connectivity that the concept of the digital twin is making an entrance in many industries, including agriculture, transportation, automotive, medicine, and construction, among others.
Digital Twins Arrive at the Building Industry
The biggest challenge for real estate managers and IT professionals is the legacy systems present in existing and new buildings. The automation systems present in most modern facilities are designed to operate for many years, even decades, as the buildings should last for at least half a century.
When a new building is delivered, especially the ones for office use, the builder hands over the entire specifications and operation manuals to the owners, usually on CDs or DVDs, plus printed books for many of the subsystems. Building managers and maintenance crews must study the documentation and prepare to perform maintenance operations and repairs when needed.
The concept of the building’s digital twins is still a novelty for the industry, and only forward-looking corporations enlist technology companies’ to help create a functional digital model. Fortunately, the need for better energy efficiency and the potential of powerful analytics and sensory data is raising the interest in this disruptive technology.
These trends create cost and energy savings opportunities for occupants–attracting and retaining new talent in competitive markets. Advanced technology allows owners to lower costs and offer unique experiences within their buildings.
Companies such as Microsoft and Siemens are now helping stakeholders using IoT sensors and digital twin technology to run simulations, perfect designs, and quickly identify problems on a single pane of glass. As with many other industries, builders are now looking to technology companies to help them implement the digital economy in their field.
For tenants, these trends create opportunities for cost and energy savings, in addition to attracting and retaining new talent in competitive markets. For owners, advanced technology provides an opportunity to lower costs and offer unique experiences within their buildings.
The Disruption of the Digital Twin
The surge of the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices is now making it possible to equip most systems and spaces with an army of sensors that can continuously send information about equipment and operations. Additionally, it is now possible to perform most operations—such as activating an elevator, modifying lighting, or adjusting the temperature of rooms and spaces—from a central control system.
With the use of 3D CAD representations and real-time connectivity, it is now possible to use the technology to create a realistic picture of the entire building, use the model to detect and highlight potential problems, and perform the usual control functions on the model instead of complex control panels.
Fortunately, as the entire building industry moved from paper to digital many years ago, all the previously called “blueprints” are now detailed CAD drawings and models. Furthermore, many HVACs, thermostats, elevators, gates, security systems, and other building systems now have embedded connectivity via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular networks, or LPWANs.
Simulation and Preventive Maintenance Are the Most Significant Benefits of the Digital Twin
Digital twins enable organizations to interact with their physical assets in realistic, immersive environments.
“Simulation is one of those critical killer apps with digital twins. Once you create a digital replica of something, being able to simulate possible scenarios, being able to goal-seek and find insights is a significant part of digital twins,” says Sam George, Corporate Vice President of Azure IoT at Microsoft. “In some ways, putting IoT devices in your buildings, and factories, and energy distribution, and things like that, gives you a window into that. But, in many ways, as you model these environments with digital twins, the building itself becomes the application. And that is very easy for anyone in an organization to see because we are used to interacting with the physical world.”
Using digital twins and technologies such as augmented reality, building designers can simulate the environment and determine the best use of spaces, calculate the impact of weather on external surfaces, optimize ventilation and climate control systems, and create more sustainable environments.
“We anticipate combining data from our various sources in the digital twin, enhancing analytics, and actioning for better efficiency, we will maximize our energy efficiency to achieve savings in cost and greenhouse gas emissions,” says Kevin Danehy, Global Head of Corporate Development, Brookfield Properties. “In older buildings and new acquisitions, the savings in energy and greenhouse gas emissions can be as much as 20 percent or more.”
Building managers can monitor the performance of different systems, detect early indications of a potential problem, and perform the necessary preventive maintenance to avoid future complications. Additionally, as data collection progresses, it would be possible to “predict” component and system performance over time by adjusting maintenance operations.
To arrive at this level of connectivity and be able to leverage the potential of the digital twin, the industry stakeholders need to open their systems and collaborate.
“I think one is that we need to have ease of connectivity. We need to be able to connect all different kinds of systems as quickly and easily and with as little effort as possible because only then can you actually start thinking about deriving value out of that data,” says Elisa Rönkä, Global Head of SaaS Sales at Siemens. “Still, you also have this kind of non-proprietary approach, like an ecosystem over ego-system approach. You can invite different players to use that data, invent things, and create new solutions and value.”
From 3D Video Games to Digital Twins
Digital twins enable organizations to interact with their physical assets in realistic, immersive environments. Unity Technologies, known for its popularity as the leading 3D development platform, especially for video games, is now offering diverse services for realistic 3D representations for many applications.
Unity and others are betting on using augmented and virtual reality and the possibility of the “metaverse” to manage entire buildings and other infrastructures.
Julien Faure, GM & VP – Verticals at Unity, says “Digital twins in real-time 3D allows us to expand to the people who need it the most. From the field worker to customer service professionals to guide them in augmented reality, for example, with HoloLens 2, to capture the maintenance task and feed it back to the master model, and so on.”
“By creating the digital footprint of your physical environment, it helps you to understand how we produce things, where you have risks, and how you can avoid potential disasters,” says Siemens CIO Hanna Hennig. “I am a big believer in digital twins, which is only possible now by technologies such as the cloud, which allows you to process massive amounts of data to understand how you can improve sustainability by producing more with less.”
