The industry currently leads the way in the development of new Use Cases within the Industrial Internet of Things, commonly denominated IIoT. The massive influx and consolidation of intelligent objects, i.e. sensors connected between each other and also with the data centres in the cloud, offers a great potential for producing and operating in more efficient ways. In this evolution, the technology that appears to be at the forefront is the so-called digital twin.
A digital twin is a replica of an IoT product that includes all its components, physical as well as digital, plus all the dynamics and interaction between them. This permits the analysis of an object in real time from a computer and without physically monitoring it.
This technology requires important investments, and thus, its adoption has so far been limited to leading industries, with examples from the machine and tool industry, manufacturers of heating equipment, engines, vehicles, etc. Despite this, according to Gartner, almost 50% of the companies that are implementing IoT already employs or are planning to create a digital twin. Also, the next generation networks, 5G, with its promises of super-fast connectivity and low latency, can only contribute to the development of new products or business models based on this innovative technology.