Upgrading to Digital Twin Technology in Zone 1 Environments


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Upgrading to digital twin technology offers an exciting new set of tools for industrial digital operations. Through intelligent 3D visualization of physical assets monitored by smart IoT sensors, digital twins augment engineers' toolboxes with powerful new skills, shattering the industrial status quo.

Digital twin technology enables previously unimaginable capabilities, such as:

  • Visualizing highly complex systems and physical assets in real-time 3D, onsite and remotely
  • Digitally monitoring, troubleshooting, and controlling system/asset performance onsite and remotely

Understanding Digital Twin Technology

“The digital twin is the virtual representation of a physical object or system across its life-cycle," explains Maggie Mae Armstrong, IBM's content marketing director for AI and IoT. She continues, "It uses real-time data and other sources to enable learning, reasoning, and dynamically recalibrating for improved decision making.”

Essentially, a comprehensive virtual twin (or data model) is created, representing a physical asset or system down to the smallest detail. Smart IoT sensors physically connected to the real asset/system collect data points that are continuously fed to the virtual digital twin, providing real-time operational status and predictive analysis to onsite and remote personnel.

Mobile Digital Twin Technology in Zone 1 Environments

Standard electronics and computing devices typically used to access and inform digital twins are not safe to use in Zone 1 locations. In environments with combustible materials, standard devices can potentially spark, igniting an explosion. Only certified intrinsically safe electronic devices are permitted in Zone 1 environments, so data twinning technologies must be purposely built and certified for these locations, too.

Upgrade to Aegex Technology

Aegex Technologies delivers a full array of customizable enterprise-class software, industry-specific applications, and globally certified intrinsically safe mobile computing devices. Aegex offers the necessary components to fully digitize and upgrade your operations to digital twin technology.

Leveraging Aegex Technology to create your Digital Twin environment

Integral Aegex components to build your digital twin environment include:
aegex10TM Intrinsically Safe Tablets - Utilizing Microsoft's popular Windows 10 operating system to manage and mobilize the full continuum of data produced in all aspects of digital operations including digital twinning, aegex10 IS tablets are user-friendly, lightweight, and IP65-ruggedized. With secure online connectivity to Azure Cloud via LTE or Wi-Fi and offline connectivity via Bluetooth and NFC communications, aegex10 tablets enable real-time productivity for up to 12 hours per charge.

Microsoft Azure Cloud - Enabling secure device provisioning, processing, storage, and connectivity between devices and the cloud, Azure is a globally trusted platform with security, privacy, compliance, and control features built-in.

AVEVA NET & LFM NetView - Utilizing laser scanning, LFM NetView enables secure, real-time digital twin access via photorealistic 3D visualization of physical assets/systems monitored by NexVu sensors. Using the AVEVA NET Dashboard on aegex10 tablets, unlimited users can access the interactive, navigable environment, and collaborate with multiple teams both onsite and around the globe via Azure cloud connectivity.

Visualize Your Digital Future

If you're now recognizing the beauty of digital twinning, you're not alone. Within the coming 5-7 years, digital twin technology is predicted to become standard functionality, with up to 89% of all IoT platforms offering some type of digital twinning by 2025. Across industry verticals, 36% of executives recognize the advantages of digital twin technology; and within this group, 53% expect their organizations to implement data twinning by 2028.

If you have noticed a competitive advantage in digital twin technology for your organization, we can help you visualize an exciting digital future - in real-time 3D.