What is a digital twin?

A digital twin is a virtual replica of a real-world object, process or service. It can be a digital representation of an object in the physical world, such as an engine, or larger items such as factories or even whole cities.

The benefits of using a digital twin

A digital clone of a physical object or process can bring many benefits to organizations such as making it easier to monitor operations, perform predictive maintenance, as well as provide insight for financial decisions. When it comes to scenarios that would be too time-consuming or costly to test with physical assets, a digital twin can help organizations create simulations with high credibility, make long-range business plans, and improve processes.

Digital twins bring a lot of benefits to organizations.
Digital twins bring a lot of benefits to organizations.

How we chose key technologies for this project

Our client needed a virtual playground where users can manage, innovate, collaborate, simulate, analyze and optimize projects before final decisions and real-world implementation. For such requirements, our selection of technology was CesiumJS.
Here are the reasons why we chose CesiumJS to create 3D maps for our projects:

  • It’s open-source
  • Using Cesium means that users can import large 3D models at ease.
  • The performance is unmatched when it comes to large 3D files (several GBs).
  • While Cesium is less flexible than Three.js, it has more support than the latter.
  • Cesium can render precise & high-quality visuals of interactive web apps & geospatial data.

The product is essentially a single-page web app that needs to be easy to use, lightweight and mobile-friendly. React is the go-to choice for building user interfaces in such a situation.

A screenshot from the digital twin
Creating 3D globes in a web browser without any plugins is easy with CesiumJS.

What are the features of this digital twin?

The digital twin that BHSoft helped our client build combines several functions like City Models, BIM, GIS, and Survey, with tools to improve project collaboration, communication, and coordination. It is visual, easy to use, fast, and works on any smart device. It allows users to increase understanding, acceptance, trust, situational awareness, sustainability, productivity, and quality of their projects.

A digital twin built with CesiumJS enables users to interact with it in multiple ways:

  • Import 3D model files and customize them on the virtual playground to manage their projects. Users can view the model from all angles, measure and align the model, as well as determine the influence of the model on the surrounding areas. 
  • App users can also observe how the model changes over time (the fourth dimension).
  • Users can sketch models directly on the platform with dimensions that correspond to their real-life dimensions.
  • End-users can manage projects with other valuable features of the platform such as measuring points, measuring distance, clip plane, saved views, 4D, AR with 3D, GPS Positioning, etc.
  • Users can leave feedback with icons and descriptions for that model, expressing their views.
A screenshot from the digital twin
A screenshot from the digital twin

Conclusion

The benefits of digital twin technology in several industries, such as construction, facility and asset management,… will soon make it ubiquitous in the upcoming years. The core of digital twin technology involves both cloud computing and IoT, which are already industry standards. If you are looking for a partner to develop digital twins, don’t hesitate to contact us via hello@bachasoftware.com or fill in our contact form.

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