An Approach to Develop Digital Twins in Industry

Abstract

The industry is currently undergoing a digital revolution driven by the integration of several enabling technologies. These include automation, robotics, cloud computing, industrial cybersecurity, systems integration, digital twins, etc. Of particular note is the increasing use of digital twins, which offer significant added value by providing realistic and fully functional process simulations. This paper proposes an approach for developing digital twins in industrial environments. The novelty lies in not only focusing on obtaining the model of the industrial system and integrating virtual reality and/or augmented reality but also in emphasizing the importance of incorporating other enabled technologies of Industry 4.0, such as system integration, connectivity with standard and specific industrial protocols, cloud services, or new industrial automation systems, to enhance the capabilities of the digital twin. Furthermore, a proposal of the software tools that can be used to achieve this incorporation is made. Unity is chosen as the real-time 3D development tool for its cross-platform capability and streamlined industrial system modeling. The integration of augmented reality is facilitated by the Vuforia SDK. Node-RED is selected as the system integration option, and communications are carried out with MQTT protocol. Finally, cloud-based services are recommended for effective data storage and processing. Furthermore, this approach has been used to develop a digital twin of a robotic electro-pneumatic cell.

Immersive Digital Twin under ISO 23247 Applied to Flexible Manufacturing Processes

“…Within the state of the art, it is observed that most of the works presented by other authors do not follow a standard for the design of DT architectures; however, as a developing technology, several industries and universities have focused their attention on it. For the design of 3D environments, several CAD version 2022 softwares are used: among the main ones are Blender and Solid Work; for communication, the most used protocols are OPC UA, TCP/IP, AMQP, MODBUS, and MQTT; and in the physical environment, the process data are obtained by PLCs or embedded systems [20,29,31,32]. In addition, the integration of several technologies is evidenced to enhance the characteristics of the DT.…”

“…Within the development of DTs, there is research on the use of technologies with AR and VR to expand the capabilities of DTs, as shown below. In [31,32], a DT is presented for the control and monitoring of industrial processes, supported by AR and VR. Robust devices (field level and control) and low-cost embedded systems were used to create and communicate the virtual environment (monitoring and control).…”

An Immersive Digital Twin Applied to a Manufacturing Execution System for the Monitoring and Control of Industry 4.0 Processes

“…The results showed that the implemented system allows for precise adjustment of the AR model and the real object through AR tracking and anchoring technology, improving the compatibility of objects. In [27], they develop DT in industrial environments, with AR and VR emphasizing the incorporation of other technologies such as system integration, connectivity with industrial protocols, and cloud services to enhance the capabilities of the digital environment. They use the Unity platform as a real-time 3D development tool due to its cross-platform capacity, and for system integration, they use Node-RED and the MQTT protocol.…”