Embarking on a digital twin journey can help you better understand a problem and provide insights that can help you solve a problem. This infographic is a guide to capturing value through prototyping digital twins, based on lessons learned from the digital twin research delivered by the Centre for Digital Built Britain in partnership with the Construction Innovation Hub and undertaken by the University of Cambridge.

Please visit https://www.cdbb.cam.ac.uk/research/digital-twin-journeys for more information about this research programme

Fenby-Taylor, Henry

Lamb, Kirsten

English

Apollo (Cambridge)

ClassifyOptimiseCO²RefineDecideDynamic sensor dataBuilding ManagementSystem dataStatic BIM dataFeedback        Mara, a digital twin guide, is about to help Desmond develop his first digital twin prototype.Follow Desmond's digital twin journey below...Digital Twin Journeys:An iterative approach to prototyping digital twinsEmbarking on a digital twin journey can help you better understand a problem and provide insights that can help you solve it. This infographic is a guide to capturing value through prototyping digital twins, based on lessons learned from the digital twin research delivered by the Centre for Digital Built Britain as a partner in the Construction Innovation Hub and undertaken by the University of Cambridge.Please visit https://www.cdbb.cam.ac.uk/research/digital-twin-journeys for more information about this research.A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical asset (e.g. a bridge,  a building, a train car or a rail network) based on timely data that allows for analysis, insight, decision-making, sense-making and interventions in the physical world.Start with a minimum viable twin - one that does only the most essential tasks and enables the best environment to develop a digital twin that is fit for purpose.If you take an iterative approach to digital twins, it will result in Digital Twins that are aligned to emerging requirements. It is much easier for stakeholders to assess the uses of a digital twin if they are able to test it.By focusing on creating value and realising benefits, you can create small prototypes that are working toward broader goals, like better performance of assets, and environmental and social good.Cyber-physicalDigital twins bridge the physical world around us with a world of digital data and models, which represent the state of the asset, how it is performing and potentially predict its future state, enabling better interventions in the physical world.Iterative Digital twins scale up and improve through an ongoing cycle of prototyping, deployment and reflection. You don’t need to solve all of your problems with your first prototype.Socio-technicalDigital twins involve developing technology, but also designing processes and tools that are run by people, enable collaboration, support human decision-makers and create positive outcomes for society.Physical & Socio-technicalDataInterventionsDigital twinDefine the requirementsStart with a problem that can be observed using sensors and up to date information sources. Connect these information sources to people who can use it to make better informed decisions.Understand how people use your asset/serviceWhat are their needs and expectations? How would they be impacted by changes in your problem space?Read moreIdentify your enablers and resourcesConsider what you have to hand that can help you. What can you use that’s Open Source? What can you buy? What might you need  to make yourself? Who in your organisation can help you?There may be free sources of data that you can draw on. For example, some remote geospatial data is free to access, though it requires a specialist to process.Read moreSensors don’t need to be expensive or bespokeOff the shelf sensors can be combined in innovative ways to meet the information need. You may already have sensors you can use to infer other information.Read moreLook for people and roles who can help youIdentify existing roles or create roles that specialise in data curation and analysis, as well as systems-thinking. Sometimes the expertise you need will be outside of your organisation.Implement good data curation practices from the beginning of your prototypeData curation throughout the development of digital twins - and the whole life of assets - is vital to ensure value from your data. Use standards and best practice guidance to set and maintain data curation practices throughout.Read moreConsider security implications of the data you are collecting and managing Will the risk increase when aggregated with other data or digital twins? Will data be managed securely? Will anonymous data remain anonymous when considered in the context of a real building?Read moreConsider interoperability of your data and your digital twin Think about how others might use the data you’re generating and how they’ll fit into an ecosystem.Read moreUnderstand the way digital twins function and how they fit into the decision-making process in your organisationHow will this prototype supplement or teach you more about your existing business intelligence? Think about how to capture benefits and impacts to help you evaluate it.Read moreCommunicate data visually for better insightsThe visual interface with the digital twin should be appropriate to the stakeholders who will be using the twin to make decisions. The style of the visualisation, the information it provides, the frequency and uncertainty are decisions you need to make consciously at this stage.Put the right people in the right rolesTo be able to create an agile, innovative organisation that is able to respond to insights from the digital twin, consider your organisational structure and culture.Read moreUnderstand the ethical and legal frameworks in which your digital twin will operateData and digital technology don’t exist in a vacuum, they impact people’s lives. Look at the legal landscape, but also consider the people who will be impacted by your decisions.Read moreDevelop your prototypeTake all of the decisions and insights you’ve gained from this process and have a go. By deploying something, even if it’s not perfect, you will learn from evaluating its performance against the purpose with which you set out.The requirements for a digital twin clearly describe what job it is doing or the problem it is solving. Why are you developing this digital twin?It is important to set a clear goal that the project stakeholders agree upon.Analysis involves digging into why people use your service, why it is valuable and what you want to get out of developing a digital twin.Learn from your prototype digital twin and iterate to improve on or expand itExpand the next iteration into a new problem space, improve the data quality, curation or visualisation, or address any issues in the decision process.Talk to your stakeholders and get their feedbackHow did your key stakeholders feel the prototype went? What value did they get from it? Remember that some of your key stakeholders are outside of your organisation.To explore all of the Digital Twin Journeys research projects and outputs, visit the home page.This research forms part of the Centre for Digital Built Britain’s (CDBB) work at the University of Cambridge. It was enabled by the Construction Innovation Hub, of which CDBB is a core partner, and funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).To join the conversation with others who are on their own digital twin journeys, join the Digital Twin Hub.Staffordshire Bridges Sensors and Sensibility Understanding the information need - a bridge to better information managementSatellites for Remote Sensing Creating value from high-volume built environment dataDigital Twins from SpaceWest Cambridge Digital Twin - Institute for ManufacturingData IngestionData for asset managersSmart Hospital The journey to the smart hospital of the future Ecosystems of services enabled by connected digital twinsWest Cambridge Digital Twin - Computer LabTraining a Computer to SeeCoffee TimeProject OAK Playing the digital twin ethics gamePurposeAnalysisDesignImplementationTestingEvaluationWe have these targets, but I don’t know what data we have or how to use it to make better decisions. Where do I start?Hi, Desmond.  I heard you have ambitions to deliver net zero emissions for your building stock. How can I help?Let’s see how developing a digital twin prototype can help.Digital twins are still pretty new, though, right? What are the gaps that I should know about?Of course. We’re still early in developing the technical capability of digital twins and the process and skills for people to use them well.Timely, accurate, predictive insights about your energy performance requires time and effort. It’s important to understand what’s achievable and test different possibilities to understand the way forward.But by developing a prototype and sharing your experience, you’re starting to fill some of those gaps!What is a digital twin?Getting started on your first digital twinGetting started on your first digital twinWhat’s next for digital twins?Other key resourcesDataInterventionsHmm, other asset owners might be able to use my data to plan for better resilience.I’ve seen the standards and guides, but what does good data curation really look like?You have an ethical responsibility to understand how your digital twin will impact people beyond your problem space.  Will it create value? What kind of value and for whom? Who might be excluded?It’s not just about following the standards, it’s also about asking yourself how others might benefit or be left out of the data you manage, including over its whole life.No, let’s go for it!  If you deploy what you have now, then you’ll learn a lot more about how you should develop this prototype.Make sure your security team checks those sensors.  Who knows how secure they are!?How do I get started with developing a digital twin?We can get started prototyping our digital twin with some cheap sensors and a Raspberry pi!There might already be expertise you can draw on in your organisation, or in your sector. The Digital Twin Hub can connect you with others you can learn from.What questions should we have asked? How should we have structured the data? What other sensors are available to help us answer our questions better? How could this be applied in another area?You need to figure out what question you want to answer. Start with a small problem to learn how to integrate digital twins into your decision process.Involve your stakeholders in a participatory process, it’s important to gather diverse points of view and understand how your digital twin can serve their needs.I think my asset manager will understand this process better than anyone. Maybe I can ask them for help on mapping out the digital twin prototype.I know our board needs to see evidence of energy performance and carbon emissions on a weekly basis. I’m going to focus on visualising that clearly.I’m not sure this prototype is going to be good enough. Should I wait and do more analysis?I was hoping to use satellite imaging in my digital twin to reduce the need for site visits, but we don’t have the expertise to work with the data. But that’s okay, because other people do!Yes, so you should make sure the data is managed in a way that makes that possible.

Digital Twin Journeys: An iterative approach to prototyping digital twins

https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/1810/335548/3/Digital%20Twin%20Journeys%20Infographic.pdf

Digital Twin Journeys: An iterative approach to prototyping digital twins

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