资料内容：
Understanding the concept of a Digital Twin
You have probably heard someone talking about Digital Twins in the last few years.
You could even say that it has been a buzzword for some time. But since 2019-2020, it's
become more than just a buzzword. Organizations and people have started to understand
the benefits of having a Digital Twin. There has even been a large increase in organizations
that want to start and implement a Digital Twin.
But what is a Digital Twin? I get that question a lot. And every time it is difficult to come
up with an answer that others will understand. And even referring to the definition on
Wikipedia will not make it easy to understand. There are a lot of different definitions
you can find online in articles and blog posts. To explain what a Digital Twin is requires
a definition to start with followed by a more in-depth explanation of the definition itself.
I use the following definition:
A Digital Twin is a digital replica of entities and
their relationships in a reality
You may have noticed that this definition contains several terms: digital replica, entities,
and reality. It becomes clearer when explaining each of them in more depth.
Digital replica
A digital replica is a way of storing several entities and their relationships in a specific
model. Such a model is stored in a location according to your requirements and needs.
An example could be a database or service. Each product on the market that is available to
create a Digital Twin has its own way of storing the information that describes the model.
That means that the digital replica can describe a real-life situation using definitions and
parameters. Think of a machine and whether it is turned on or off. The digital replica
would describe the machine and its state. But a digital replica could also be about
a collection of machines and their relationships. Think of a machine that is creating
a product and the machine that is packing the product. The packing machine requires
products to pack anything. That relationship is also described in a digital replica.
