Digital Twin to Control and Monitor an Industrial Cyber-Physical Environment Supported by Augmented Reality

Abstract

Increasing industrial development and digital transformations have given rise to a technology called Digital Twin (DT) that has the potential to break the barrier between physical and cyberspace. DT is a virtual and dynamic model enabled through a bidirectional data flow that creates high-reliability models with interconnection and fusion between the physical and digital systems for full integration. In smart manufacturing, this technology is increasingly used in research and industry. However, the studies conducted do not provide a definition or a single integrally connected model. To develop the Digital Twin shown in this research, the literature was reviewed to learn about the enabling technologies and architectures used at the industrial level. Then, a methodology was used to obtain the physical process information, create the digital environment, communicate the physical environment, apply simulation models in the digital environment, and parameterize the simulation environment with the physical process in real-time to obtain the digital twin supported with augmented reality. The system was implemented in the MPS-500 modular production station that has industrial sensors and actuators. The virtual environment was designed with Blender and Vuforia to create the augmented reality environment. In the proposed methodology, robust devices (field and control level) and low-cost embedded systems were used for the creation and communication of the virtual environment (monitoring and control); for the joint work of these technologies, they were carried out through the use of the following protocols: Open Platform Communications United Architecture (OPC UA), Ethernet, and machine to machine (M2M), with which a communication was achieved between the different levels of the automation pyramid. The results show that the proposed methodology for the implementation of the DT allows bidirectional communication between the physical and virtual environment and can also be visualized with the support of AR, thus providing its characteristics to the proposed DT. Digital Twin is an essential factor in creating virtual environments and improving applications between the real and digital world, establishing a bidirectional communication through the Ethernet protocol, with a communication time of approximately 100 ms. This technology interacts with the virtual environment and performs mappings, thus achieving timely and dynamic adjustment. This improves data management and production and incorporates process simulation and physical control in real-time, allowing to execute and trigger actions in the physical equipment simultaneously.

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 proposed DT provides a more complete understanding of the modeled process, with real-time interaction and dynamic visualization allowing for improved decision-making. In [28], they implemented a DT for the control and monitoring of a process with AR; the system was implemented in a modular production station MPS 500. The architecture consists of a PLC and a Raspberry Pi for sending process data to the cloud using Modbus TCP/IP and the M2M protocol; subsequently, the data are sent from the RPI to Unity for the development of the DT application for visualization and control via AR.…”

A Dynamic Security Assessment Method for Ironmaking Plants Based on Cloud-Edge Collaboration in Reconstructed Networks

“…In case of potential security risks, they rapidly issue alerts, enabling immediate countermeasures to be taken. This sensor network not only monitors equipment operation and identifies normal functioning but also provides historical data records [10], facilitating post-event analysis and tracing, and effectively preventing potential faults and accidents. The wireless sensor network is composed of a 5G Radcap network, Zigbee network, Bluetooth network, and Wifi network.…”

“…where: 'G' is a constant (10), and 'P' is the rate of injuries per thousand employees. Assuming the ironmaking plant's injury rate is 3/1000, the initial security risk level of the ironmaking plant is 58.09.…”

A Cyber-Physical System Based on Digital Twin and 3D SCADA for Real-Time Monitoring of Olive Oil Mills.

“…With regard to the integration of DT into CPS a multitude of studies have been advanced. In particular, the research conducted by study [22] employed a rigorous methodology to acquire pertinent data on the physical processes, establish a digital representation of the environment, facilitate seamless communication between the physical and virtual realms, employ simulation models within the digital framework, and dynamically parameterize the simulation environment in real-time based on the ongoing physical processes. The utilization of an AR application was employed for the purpose of variable control, establishing an intuitive operational environment for process management.…”

“…The seamless synchronization between the virtual reality representation and the actual physical environment is achieved through the utilization of the OPC program known as KEPServerEX, coupled with the transformation of twin data into the JSON format. It is noteworthy that an increasing number of studies have adopted the OPC-UA protocol [22,29,30] as a means of harmonizing the real and physical realms, with the overarching objective of diminishing latency times.…”