An article reviews the development history of digital twins in China
In China, the development history of digital twin technology is not long, but with the continuous advancement of technology and the active and strong promotion of the government, it has achieved remarkable achievements.
Concept introduction:
The innovative concept of digital twin can be traced back to 2002, when it was proposed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and first applied to the design and maintenance of spacecraft. At that time, the technology greatly improved the reliability and safety of spacecraft by accurately simulating and monitoring spacecraft. Although the concept was born abroad, it has spread rapidly in China since 2014, like a spring breeze blowing across the land. With the widespread popularization of information technology and the increasing demand for digital transformation in various industries, digital twin technology has gradually attracted high attention and attention from various industries such as manufacturing, energy, and transportation, and has become a hot topic in the industry.
Policy support:
Since 2019, the Chinese government has keenly realized the importance of digital twin technology in promoting national industrial upgrading and enhancing comprehensive competitiveness, and has begun to systematically and gradually introduce a series of relevant policy documents. These policy documents are like beacons, pointing out the direction for the development of digital twin technology and providing solid policy guarantees. In particular, in 2020, the strategically significant "14th Five-Year Plan" clearly proposed to vigorously promote the extensive application and in-depth development of digital twin technology and formally incorporate it into the important part of the national information development strategy. This move fully demonstrates the country's high attention to digital twin technology and its firm determination to fully promote its development.
As early as 2018, the Chinese government had a far-sighted vision and listed digital twins as one of the key projects of "Made in China 2025". "Made in China 2025" aims to promote China from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power. The integration of digital twin technology provides key support for the intelligent upgrading of the manufacturing industry. This decision not only reflects the country's deep understanding of the key role played by digital twin technology in the transformation of the manufacturing industry, but also lays a solid foundation for the subsequent widespread application of digital twin technology in various industries.
Industry application:
Since 2014, digital twin technology has shown a trend of spreading like wildfire in China, and has been promoted and applied in many fields at a very fast speed. The manufacturing industry has taken the lead and has become an important position for the application of digital twin technology. In the field of intelligent manufacturing, digital twin technology has been widely adopted, and enterprises have used this technology to build virtual models of products and production processes. By repeatedly verifying and optimizing product design in a virtual environment, product quality has been greatly improved; at the same time, the production process has been simulated in a refined manner, effectively improving production efficiency and reducing operating costs. For example, some automobile manufacturers use digital twin technology to simulate and debug automobile production processes in virtual factories, discover and solve potential problems in advance, and significantly shorten the launch cycle of new models.
In the field of energy management, digital twin technology also plays an important role. Energy companies have achieved real-time and accurate monitoring of energy supply and consumption by establishing digital twin models of energy systems. With the help of big data analysis and intelligent algorithms, energy scheduling can be optimized to ensure efficient use of energy. In addition, digital twin technology can also monitor the status of energy equipment in real time, predict equipment failures in advance, and achieve preventive maintenance, effectively improving the reliability and operation efficiency of energy equipment.
In the construction of smart cities, digital twin technology has brought new ideas and methods to urban planning, management and operation. By building a digital twin model of the city, city managers can grasp the city's traffic flow, environmental quality, infrastructure operation and other situations in real time, optimize the allocation of urban resources, and improve the city's comprehensive management level. In terms of traffic congestion management, by simulating the digital twin of the traffic network and optimizing traffic signal control, the city's congestion has been effectively alleviated.
In the field of healthcare, digital twin technology has also begun to emerge. By modeling human organs and physiological systems with digital twins, doctors can simulate diagnosis and evaluate treatment plans for various diseases in a virtual environment, providing a more scientific and accurate basis for clinical decision-making. For example, before heart surgery, doctors use digital twin models to conduct a detailed analysis of the patient's heart structure and function, develop personalized surgical plans, and improve the success rate of surgery.
In the field of aerospace, the application of digital twin technology has further improved the design, development and safety of aircraft. In the aircraft design stage, the digital twin model is used to simulate and analyze the aerodynamic performance and structural strength of the aircraft to optimize the design plan; in the aircraft service stage, the digital twin technology is used to monitor the aircraft's operating status in real time and predict faults to ensure flight safety.
In the automotive industry, digital twin technology runs through the entire life cycle of automotive products. From virtual prototype development in the product design stage, to quality control in the production process, to remote vehicle diagnosis and maintenance in after-sales service, digital twin technology provides automotive companies with all-round technical support, helping them improve their product competitiveness.
Technological progress:
In recent years, advanced technologies such as cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) have sprung up and flourished, providing strong technical support for the further improvement and deepening of digital twin technology. The powerful computing power of cloud computing makes the construction and operation of digital twin models more efficient; big data technology provides digital twins with massive data resources, and through in-depth mining and analysis of these data, it can give digital twin models more powerful intelligent decision-making capabilities; Internet of Things technology realizes the real-time connection between the physical world and the digital world, enabling digital twin models to obtain real-time status information of physical entities; artificial intelligence technology injects "wisdom" into digital twin models, enabling them to achieve autonomous learning, intelligent analysis and prediction.
At the same time, domestic universities, research institutions and enterprises have also increased their investment in the research and development of digital twin technology. Many universities and scientific research institutions have brought together a group of top scientific research talents and carried out a series of basic theoretical research, laying a solid theoretical foundation for the development of digital twin technology. Enterprises closely combine market demand, actively carry out research and innovation of application technology, and promote the widespread application of digital twin technology in actual production and life. For example, some companies have developed digital twin platforms with independent intellectual property rights, providing industry customers with one-stop digital twin solutions. Although China started later than some developed countries in the field of digital twin technology, with the strong support of the government, the continuous growth of market demand and the strong drive of technological innovation, China's digital twin technology is developing at an astonishing speed. In some application areas, such as intelligent manufacturing and smart cities, it has reached or even surpassed the international advanced level. Looking to the future, with the continuous advancement and improvement of technology, digital twin technology will surely play a greater role in more fields and contribute greatly to promoting the high-quality development of China's economy and society.