Understanding of Digital Twin – Types, Benefits, and Use Cases

Though the concept of a digital twin has been around since 2002, the technology gained recognition following the rapid rise of the IoT. Besides IoT, digital twins now integrate machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to bring data, algorithms, and context together. So, businesses have started adopting this technology to test new ideas, detect issues before they occur, and monitor items remotely.

To understand the potential of the digital twin, you should know what it exactly is, its types, benefits, and a few use cases. Without these insights, you might struggle to get the most of your IoT investments. We recommend you to approach an IoT development company to know how you can leverage digital twin in your IoT project.

What is a Digital Twin?

A digital twin is a virtual replica of physical assets, processes, systems, and devices that can be utilized for various purposes. Simply put, a digital twin is the ability to take the virtual representation of both the elements and the dynamics of how an IoT device operates or works. It acts as a bridge between the digital and physical worlds by using sensors to gather real-time data of a physical asset. Subsequently, the data is utilized to create a virtual replica of the asset, enabling it to be understood, analyzed, or optimized easily. Other terms used to describe digital twin over the last years are hybrid twin, virtual twin, virtual prototyping, and digital asset management.

Types of Digital Twin

Depending on what they replicate virtually, digital twins can be classified into three types:

Discrete Digital Twins are used to analyze and optimize individual assets, people, and other physical resources.

Composite Digital Twins, on the contrary, is a virtual replica of composite material used for manufacturing purposes. Mostly, the composite material is used in a variety of industries like aerospace, architectures, and energy.

Digital Twins of Organizations (DTOs) maximize the value across specific processes like manufacturing or entire business operations.

Benefits of Digital Twins

Earlier, digital twins were used to improve the performance of a single asset like a wind turbine or a jet engine. However, the technology has become quite sophisticated lately. Now, it connects systems of assets or even entire organizations and transforms their operations significantly. Let’s dive in to unleash how digital twin can benefit your business.

Reduces Issues Related to Product Quality – Digital twins help you understand the possible outcomes, improve operations, and quickly detect product quality issues.

Lowers Maintenance Costs – Digital twins predict maintenance failures through simulation models that store information about various operating scenarios, risk factors, and system configurations. Thus, you can reduce downtime, enhance equipment reliability, extend their life span, and save huge costs.

Improves Productivity – Using digital twins, you don’t have to experiment with physical objects or halt ongoing processes to improve overall operations. All you have to do is run simulations in the lab to understand the risks as well as the benefits of new processes and keep refining them to obtain the best results.

Facilitates Employee Training – Digital twins can create virtual real-life situations to train employees. You can also teach them how to handle equipment that is too costly to be given hands-on training.

Use Cases of Digital Twin

The benefits of digital twins are enormous. Now, let’s have a look at some of its uses cases.

Automobile – Digital replicas of automobiles gather behavioral and operational data of their physical counterparts to monitor and improve their performance. They also help in developing and testing new products like hybrid and electric vehicles.

Construction – Digital models of building capture real-time data about their infrastructure using sensors and other wireless technologies. They not only help in improving the design and quality of construction projects but also reduce maintenance costs.

Sports – Sensors and analytics help in creating digital replicas of players and simulate game situations to detect most likely injuries and improve performance. F1 racing teams utilize digital twins to monitor adjustments and enhance the performance of their cars.

Healthcare – The virtual replica of a patient or an organ enables physicians to practice procedures in a simulated environment. This technology is also used to conduct digital clinical trials before releasing new drugs or vaccines.

Aerospace and Defense – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) utilizes digital twins to operate, maintain, and repair systems in the outer world. Similarly, the US military uses the technology to validate the integrity of the chips and semiconductors used in their weaponry.

Final Words

For businesses that already use IoT, the digital twin is the next step to steer their digital journey toward the right path. If you’re planning to optimize processes, improve efficiencies, and achieve better business outcomes, digital twins are worth embracing. For more information about the technology and how you can integrate it into your business operations, approach the experts of our IoT development company.

7 Best IoT Platforms Most Businesses Incline Toward

The market of IoT platforms is making headway gradually, and it is expected to rake in a massive value of $74.44B globally by 2023. The reason behind the expansion of this market is the proliferation in the IoT devices and their correlated components. These devices and components need a facilitator – IoT Platform – to seamlessly communicate in the same environment and create maximum business value.

What is an IoT Platform?

IoT platform is a middleware solution that acts as a connector between the IoT devices and the cloud. It facilitates data exchange over the network and also connects the application layer to the hardware.

Currently, there are a plethora of IoT platforms in the market, each having its own significance in making IoT integration as well as management simpler and scalable. A reliable IoT development company counts on 7 IoT platforms for successful IoT implementation.

Microsoft Azure IoT Platform

It is an open-source, cloud-based suite that assists in bringing local intelligence to the shared/distributed IoT. This platform has virtual tools that offer a flexible and configurable computing environment. These tools can be easily be resized according to the workload.

To leverage the Azure IoT platform, the user has to pass the commands over Microsoft Azure PowerShell in order to start or stop the server as well as writing operations. However, this suite doesn’t offer any management.

Features:

  • Supports instant IoT-enabled device registry that generates a unique identity for each device
  • Provides a cloud-based dashboard to offer immediate access to data across apps and devices
  • Enables real-time analytics streaming for the betterment of decision-making ability
  • Offers remote monitoring solution to keep a tab of apps and devices
  • Smoothens continuous data monitoring for actionable insights

AWS IoT Platform

AWS platform not only allows device connectivity to the cloud but also secures the integration of apps available on cloud and other devices. The merit of this platform is that it enables apps to analyze devices and facilitates 24*7 communication between them, without the need for an internet connection.

Features:

  • Supports instant device and app connectivity and helps in exchanging authentic messages using HTTP or MQTT, or WebSockets protocols
  • Provides a message broker that enables data communication between apps and devices with low latency
  • Offers a device gateway to deal with all the connected device without maintaining infrastructure
  • Gives a unique identity to devices to track metadata of connected systems
  • Encrypts data exchange through authentication at every step

Google Cloud IoT Platform

It provides a comprehensive toolset to connect, process, save, and monitor data in the cloud and at the edge. Google provides fully-managed, scalable cloud services for on-premise/edge computing apps using the platform. This IoT platform also offers expanded AI capabilities to edge devices with Cloud IoT Edge. Besides, it identifies the device operations efficiency and performs firmware updates. Also, take note that only a few programming languages support app development on this IoT platform, while Google offers most tech-components.

Features:

  • Supports device’s predictive maintenance and improves equipment efficiency in real-time
  • Stores gathered data, performs complex analytics, and shows the connected device’s status
  • Provides massive storage and reduces server maintenance cost
  • Tracks location and condition of devices continuously
  • Enables integration with other Google services
  • Manages pricing on a per-minute basis
  • Facilitates big data analysis

IBM Watson IoT Platform

It is a PaaS-based development Platform launched by IBM. This platform provides simple solutions for IoT app development services and makes it accessible for a novice. Moreover, it offers secure communication, real-time data exchange, and data sensor as well as weather data service. It has the potential to handle massive data and render improved customer service.

Features:

  • Provides an open container architecture that offers convenient migration of workload to the cloud
  • Analyzes unstructured data and comprehend the data-pattern to gain valuable insights
  • Develops and connects devices to apps on the cloud seamlessly
  • Provides dashboard for enhanced visualization

Cumulocity IoT Platform

It is an independent device and app management IoT platform, which enhances visibility and provides improved control over remote assets. Being an end-to-end cloud enablement platform, it makes data and asset management convenient for enterprises.

Features:

  • Monitors data analytics in real-time by offering customizable dashboards
  • Improves the existing services with simple workflow integrations
  • Connects devices over any network with a plug-n-play approach
  • Facilitates access through mobile, laptops, and desktops

Oracle IoT Platform

This platform offers endpoint management, real-time data analysis, and fast-paced messaging to send real-time alerts directly to user devices. It is Platform as a service-based cloud computing suite that facilitates device connectivity with the cloud and data monitoring from the devices to provide real-time insights and incorporate data with real-time web, application service, or Oracle Cloud services.

Features:

  • Supports bi-direction communication between and the connected devices and the apps on the cloud
  • Stores device’s metadata to comprehend the attributes, capabilities, and lifecycle of the connected devices
  • Renders Oracle BI Cloud Service Support with enhanced data visualization
  • Supports Big Data analysis

Cisco IoT Cloud Connect

This is a cloud-based, mobile platform that renders solutions for mobile operators and offers flexible deployment options for IoT devices. The key focus of this suite is data and voice connectivity, while Cisco Kinetic ensures the security of this platform. It also extracts IoT data from the components or devices connected to the IoT network to normalize it so that apps can use it. Additionally, this platform applies rules to the data in motion for the improvement of the decision-making ability of the enterprises.

Features:

  • Supports data computation in a shared network that ensures optimal use of resources in the network
  • Provides a cloud-based dashboard that offers better control and view of the IoT gateways
  • Enable free data flow between the connected devices and the app based on cloud
  • Provides real-time information and updates
IoT App Development Company
IoT App Development Company

IoT Platforms Driving Business Growth

IoT platforms play a significant role in creating business value and fueling their growth. But, they must tread carefully to choose the best one by taking factors like service provider’s SDK richness, support, documentation, and API interface into account. They should also assess the IoT protocols for billing base, message size limitations, and multi-tenancy support.

Be it choosing an IoT platform or availing IoT app development services, it is essential to analyze the nature and objectives of your business. You can also consult with the experts of a renowned IoT development company to help you find the best IoT platform and navigate your IoT implementation journey.

How IoT Protocols Secure Data Exchange in the IoT Sphere

With the continuously increasing number of IoT devices, cases of DDoS attacks are also being witnessed frequently. According to a Statista report, the number of connected devices will reach about 31B by 2020. Thus, this is the time when businesses, customers, stakeholders, and IoT app developers should garner knowledge about IoT protocols that can significantly hold the chances of security breaches at bay.

A Comprehensive Guide to IoT Protocols

IoT protocols are modes of communication that ensure end-to-end security of the data exchange between connected devices.

Basically, the IoT devices are connected to the cloud through an IP network. However, Bluetooth and RFID devices allow IoT systems to connect locally. In both cases, there is a difference in range, power, and memory consumption. IP network connectivity is relatively complicated, requires more power and memory from the IoT devices while the range is not an issue. On the contrast, non-IP networks need less memory and power and are limited to a specific range. As far as the IoT protocols are concerned, a blend of IP and non-IP networks can be considered as per to their usage.

IoT protocols can be classified into two different categories. Let’s have a look at them.

1.) IoT Network Protocols

IoT network protocols are the set of communication protocols used to connect devices and ensure secure data exchange within the scope of the network. Some of the IoT network protocols are:

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)

HyperText Transfer Protocol has built the foundation of data transmission over the web. This protocol is commonly used for IoT devices when there is a massive amount of data to be published. However, HTTP is not the first choice of most IoT app developers because of its battery life, cost, energy consumed, and many other constraints.

3D Printing is one of the best use cases of the HyperText Transfer Protocol. It connects computers to the 3D printers over the network and enables systems to print 3D objects and pre-determined process prototypes.

LoRaWan (Long Range Wide Area Network)

LoRaWan is a low-power, long-range protocol that offers signals detection below the noise level. It connects battery-powered devices to the internet, wirelessly in private or global networks. This protocol is mainly used by smart cities, where there a myriad of devices that operate with less power and memory.

Smart street lighting is the most significant use case of the LoRaWan protocol. This protocol facilitates the connection of street lights to the LoRa gateway. The LoRa gateway further connects to the cloud app that controls the intensity of light bulbs and reduces power consumption during the daytime.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is an extensively used protocol for wireless, short-range, low-cost, low-power, and secure data exchange between electronic devices. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a subset of this protocol that cuts down power consumption and plays a significant role in connecting IoT devices.

Bluetooth protocol is mostly used in smartphones, smart wearables, and other devices, where small chunks of data can be communicated with low energy and memory consumption. With such high usage and demand, Bluetooth is deemed the most preferred IoT connectivity protocols by every IoT development company.

ZigBee

ZigBee protocol enables smart objects to work in tandem and is generally used in home automation. Well-known for industrial settings, ZigBee is integrated into applications that support low-rate data exchange over a short distance.

ZigBee protocol  is used in electric meters and street lights in urban areas, which provide low-power consumption. It is also used with security systems.

2.) IoT Data Protocols

IoT data protocols provide point-to-point data exchange with the hardware at the user side, with no need for internet connectivity. IoT data protocols connectivity takes place via a wired or a cellular network. The key IoT data protocols are:

 Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT)

MQTT protocol gathers data from multiple electronic devices and supports remote device monitoring. It is a publish/subscribe protocol that operates over TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), enabling it to support event-driven data communication via wireless networks.

MTQQ is mainly used in economical devices and demands less power as well as memory. For example, smartwatches, fire detectors, car sensors, and apps for text-based messaging.

Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP)

CoAp is an internet-utility protocol for restricted devices. This allows the client to send a request to the server, and then the server can respond to the clients in HTTP. CoAP uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and reduces memory consumption for light-weight implementation.

Constrained Application Protocol is chiefly used in mobiles, automation, and microcontrollers. It sends a request to the app endpoints like appliances at homes and reverts resources and services in the application.

Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP)

This is a software layer protocol for message-oriented middleware infrastructure that renders queuing and routing. AMQP provides reliable point-to-point connections and ensures secure data exchange between the connected devices and the cloud. This protocol comprises three components, named Message Queue, Exchange, and Binding, responsible for seamless, secure, and successful message exchange and storage. It also facilitates the relationship establishment of one message with another.

AMQP is mostly used in the banking sector. When a server sends a message, the protocol tracks it until is it is delivered to the destinations without hindrance.

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Protocol

M2M is an open industry protocol accountable for remote application management of IoT devices. This protocol uses public networks and creates an environment where a machine can easily exchange data. Besides, it supports the self-monitoring of equipment and facilitates system adaptability to match with the changing environment.

M2M protocol is used for automated vehicle authentication, smart homes, ATM machines, and vending machines.

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)

The XMPP is designed in a unique way and runs on a push mechanism to communicate data in real-time. It is a flexible protocol and can easily integrate with the changes. XMPP operates as a presence indicator and shows the availability status of the devices or servers exchanging messages.

Apart from instant messaging applications like WhatsApp and Google Talk, XMPP is used on news websites, online gaming, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Final Words

According to the Economic Times, over 32,000 smart homes and businesses are at risk of data leakage. Knowing and exploring the potential of the afore-mentioned IoT protocols will help you to create a secure environment for communicating data with the cloud.

Since choosing an appropriate type of connectivity and protocol is an inevitable aspect for a successful IoT project, we suggest to consult the experts of a smart IoT Development Company. They will navigate you in your IoT project journey right from ideation and conceptualization to development and deployment.

How IoT is Revolutionizing the Energy Sector

As energy consumption is anticipated to rise by 40% over the coming 23 years, the demand for smarter energy solutions could touch its pinnacle point at that time.

Fortunately, there have been significant shifts toward energy management that are making this sector more efficient. From smart bulbs to autonomous offshore oil rigs, the current effect of the Internet of Things has brought a revolution in the entire energy industry. So, businesses belonging to this sector are exploring IoT use cases to improve their process automation and operational efficiency.

But what exactly has IoT brought to the table? How has it transformed the energy sector? And why businesses are investing in IoT development services and solutions?

Let’s try to find answers to these questions below.

To begin with, we will shed light on the advantages of the Internet of Things in the energy sector.

The IoT is bringing forth ample potential opportunities in the energy industry. The use of this technology in this sector is majorly driven by the need for more streamlined energy management. Yet, there are many other ways IoT can propel this industry. Some of them lie in the following:

Higher energy efficiency:

The increased control over energy consumption results in reduced waste, saved costs and enables the cutting of CO2 emissions, which makes the world a better place to live.

Reduced operational cost:

The IoT-enabled solution helps companies to eliminate operational and maintenance costs through system modernization and automation.

Increased power supply reliability:

The cost of power outages amounts to about $150B each year in the US, and around 25% of all industrial outages and interruptions were caused due to equipment failures. Taking this into account, IoT energy devices are deemed to be the panacea of these issues as they provide a more stable and reliable source of power.

New data sources:

In terms of gathering and processing of abundant data, IoT-enabled devices offer real-time insights into the system’s analytics and performance. These insights facilitate the implementation of predictive maintenance models and ensure the protection of the staff.

Top use cases of smart solutions in the energy sector

  • Industrial IoT use cases in energy production and management

Energy system monitoring and maintenance

IoT can be used to keep track of the number of system metrics, comprising performance, health, efficiency, and thus, facilitate the maintenance of the energy system. Be it a wind turbine or any other equipment, it might be challenging to detect the exact issues before the system crashes. Also, checking the problems manually is a very tedious and time-consuming process.

This is why companies are leveraging IoT sensors to examine the efficiency and outcome of their equipment. By gathering data from the sensors, they are able to implement the predictive maintenance models based on the IIoT platform. Thus, the organization could predict their maintenance needs in a better way, improve their efficiency, and lessen system downtime.

Process automation

IoT facilitated the development of entirely autonomous oil drills or energy plants. As said earlier, IoT sensors enable monitoring the system’s efficiency in real-time, and thus, automatically improve its performance using machine learning and AI.

Simultaneously, smart drilling tools can automatically modify the drill depth as per the external conditions using AI algorithms for the optimum results. It also eliminates the need for manually tampering the equipment.

Increased efficiency

Likewise, smart solutions can make power plants more productive and minimize waste. They also have the potential to increase coal power plant efficiency, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This is obtained by leveraging fuel combustion, interpreting data from over 10,000 sensors, and adjusting the whole process to the specifics of burning fuel, i.e., automatically tuning the oxygen flow in the boiler.

Safety and disaster prevention

Smart IoT solutions can be used to prevent production accidents and improve operational safety. Organizations have been exploiting drones to detect methane leaks during the wildfire in Northern California. The drones transferred data to the unified control system, which resulted in automatic isolation of the leaks until the damage was overcome by the crew on-site. Companies have also been analyzing this method to inspect infrastructure daily.

  • Consumer-facing smart energy solutions and use cases

Smart meters

Smart meters directly connect consumers to the power station, thus facilitating two-way communication. It allows consumers to share real-time operation information with utility agencies. This helps the agencies to identify the performance issues and minimize the system downtime immediately.

These IoT energy devices can also detect and automatically separate the damaged part without affecting the performance of the rest of the system. Besides, the consumer can reap the benefits of smart meters in many ways such as:

  • Improved outage management as well as restoration
  • Reduced meter reading costs
  • Improved grid reliability
  • Meet regulatory mandate
  • Enable beyond-the-meter load applications
  • Decreased energy theft
  • Ameliorated retail operations efficiency
  • Enhanced network planning and asset management
  • Enable the integration of electric vehicles and distributed generation

Smart grids

Smart energy grids are the outcome of smart meters connected in a single network. This represents how IoT-enabled devices help in energy management in other ways.

For example, a company in North California launched a “self-healing grid system”, which is designed to automatically readjust itself in case of a power outage and, thus minimizing downtime.

Another example: Chattanooga, Tennessee, was one of the pioneers to implement and leverage smart grid solutions. This helped the community to save over 1.4M dollars in operational expenses during a single storm.

Furthermore, due to the positive impact of smart grids on the environment, it has been prognosticated that they will dwindle the air pollution by 30% over the coming 10 years.

Smart buildings

Smart IoT solutions can automatically detect and manage the humidity, heating, and lighting in a building, thus reducing energy consumption. These systems also make possible the zero-energy building concept, which says that the total amount of energy annually consumed by the building is equal to the amount of on-site created renewable energy. 

Sustainable cities

Akin to buildings, the infrastructure of an entire town can also be managed with IoT energy solutions.

From street lights to electrified public transport, the Internet of Things offers a plethora of ways to manage energy consumption and make urban cities more sustainable.

Vancouver, San Francisco, and Copenhagen are a few cities that have put considerable effort to reduce energy consumption, improve efficiency, and become sustainable.

Final Words

The Internet of Things has started ruling the energy sector by improving efficiencies. Considering the growth potential IoT has shown, it will soon be recognized as a boon for various energy organizations that ensure more resilience, care, and prudence than ever before.

If you also are also endeavoring to take your business to a next level, capitalizing on smart energy solutions would be a great idea, especially in an era where the global community strives to spend a more sustainable, waste-free life. To explore the opportunities hidden within the IoT landscape, you can tap into a reliable and experienced IoT development company.

4 IoT Trends All Set to Drive Innovation in the Future

Internet of Things (IoT) has been gaining high momentum lately. The persistent implementation of IoT in the last 4-5 years has now turned into a sought-after trend. This technology has radically changed the way we communicate and look at the world. Connecting things like TV, AC, electrical meter, etc. to your mobile or any other smart device and operating it with the help of cloud support is something beyond our imagination. However, IoT has made it possible by disrupting almost every industry.

According to the Gartner Research project, there are approx. 27B IoT devices in the global market in 2019, which is anticipated to elevate to 75B by 2025. Besides, IoT global market will rise to 457B by 2020, which ensures that IoT is going to be a boon for the world. The continuous evolvement in technology is facilitating so many things in diverse marketplaces.

Below, we have shed light on a few IoT trends that are going to play a significant role in the coming years.

5G Networks

5G networks will have a considerable impact on the Internet of Things due to their increasing consumer readiness. Once they become mainstream, they will operate at a way faster speed than we are accustomed to and thus, enable IoT to access the locations that are believed to be inaccessible.

Also, the cable networks may work well with IoT devices in some instances, but these networks can’t match the speed of 5G networks. 5G networks are probably going to make smart cities more viable than ever before.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The IoT and AI are closely linked to each other. Let’s understand this concept with an example.

Suppose a business is planning to run an industrial network that is responsible for the processing of large volumes of data each week. Handling this task manually is nearly impossible for the businesses that want to streamline their processes.

So, machine learning algorithms will need to be implemented to record the data and recognize the outliers. The fusion of IoT and AI makes this possible, allowing businesses to learn more about the early warning signs of upcoming issues, run smoothly,  and foster their growth.

 Voice-Enabled Devices

The internet has already given voice to a plethora of devices. Now, the Internet of Things is going to voice almost everything that we possess. We all are well-accustomed to voice assistants like Siri and Alexa introduced by Apple and Amazon respectively. The voice-enabled systems allow us to perform all sorts of simple tasks like setting the alarm, ordering a meal, booking a cab, etc. with just a voice command. Car companies are also working on more vocal automobiles to add value to people’s lives.

Voice control options are going to become more sought-after over the coming years. The IoT will make life easier by voicing up almost every task and allowing people to become more productive. Enterprise technology and industrial technology will also get the opportunity to leverage these technological advancements.

Cloud Computing

IoT stimulates communication between devices by connecting them with the internet. For the successful execution of this communication process, there is a need for storing massive data, and IoT exploits Big Data and Cloud Computing for this purpose. While the Big Data saves large chunks of data, Cloud Computing ensures the security and timely transfer of the data. In brief, we can say that cloud computing will be one of the best trends in the foreseeable future.

Final Verdict

There is a lot more to the trends of the Internet of Things. The trends explained above are just the beginning of what is possible with an interconnected world in the future when the IoT devices will be widely adopted. The use cases for IoT-enabled devices will continue to grow and expand in the connected future. Since IoT devices will certainly offer more features, functionalities, and productivity from their IoT-connected devices, organizations should partner with an IoT development company to take full advantage of these unique capabilities of IoT.

×

GET YOUR FREE QUOTE

loading

Let us give you our honest opinion.

Book your FREE 30 minutes consultation with