digital twin, a currently hot concept, has actually been proposed for 20 years and 50 years have passed since its inception.
It is unknown and has been dormant in a dark corner where no one cares about it for too long. So, what has happened between the time when digital twins were proposed and when they exploded?
In this issue, let’s talk about the origin of this digital twin.
Apollo 13 Shock
Many years later, when Jim Lovell recalled the accident on the Apollo 13 manned lunar landing spacecraft, he still felt lingering fear.
At that time, the rocket had taken off for nearly 56 hours, was about 330,000 kilometers away from the earth, and was carrying Apollo 13 towards the moon. Everything seems to be running perfectly on track.
△ Apollo 13, picture source: Wikipedia
Suddenly, a huge explosion sounded in the ears of the three astronauts, including Jim Lovell, and then the cockpit was illuminated by warning lights, and there was a harsh sound. The alarm sounds.
△ Three astronauts including Jim Lovell, picture source: Wikipedia
It was later found out that this was an oxygen tank in the Apollo 13 living module. It exploded, seriously damaging the main thruster. , substances vital to the lives of astronauts: oxygen , are also leaking into space.
suffered this change, and the moon landing was obviously impossible.
At this time, thousands of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) ground support personnel worked around the clock for the next three and a half days with the only goal of getting the three astronauts on the spacecraft home safely.
△ NASA’s backend control center, picture source: Wikipedia
This is undoubtedly a very huge challenge.
Fortunately, NASA finally turned the tide and successfully completed the mission, allowing Jim Lovell and his colleagues to walk out of the spacecraft unscathed amid the dangers. How did this exciting "miracle"
come about?
It turns out that together with the Apollo 13 body, there is also an extremely complete and high-precision simulation system. This huge system composed of multiple computers networked together contains all the core components of Apollo 13, as well as all mission operations used to train astronauts and mission controllers, and naturally covers the processing procedures for various failure scenarios. .
△ The front of the picture is the lunar module simulator, and the rear is the command module simulator. The picture comes from NASA.
NASA has learned through communications with Jim Lovell and other astronauts which systems on the spacecraft are working properly and which systems After the failure, a bold and careful return plan was formulated.
This plan has not been practiced by anyone, but it must be guaranteed to be foolproof. Any accident means disaster.
NASA input the current configuration status of Apollo 13 into the simulator according to parameters such as mass, center of gravity, thrust, etc., and then arranged for backup astronauts to conduct operation drills on the simulator, fully verifying the feasibility of each operation step.
The remaining work is thrilling and boring, that is, the astronauts strictly follow the list of operating instructions formed after verification on the simulator. Sure enough, they eventually made it back to the surface of the Earth.
△ Apollo 13 flight route map, picture source: Wikipedia
There is no doubt that the number one contributor to this brilliant success is the extremely complete and high-precision replica of Apollo 13 located in the ground engine room. No. simulator.
Many years later, it will have a more famous name: digital twin.
In 2010, NASA officially proposed the concept of digital twins in its "Modeling, Simulation, Information Technology and Processing Roadmap":
△ The original definition of digital twins, source: NASA "Modelling, Simulation, Information Technology & Processing Roadmap 》
“Digital twin is an integrated simulation of a vehicle or system with multiple physical quantities and multiple spatial scales. The simulation uses the most effective current physical model, sensor data updates, flight history, etc. Wait, to mirror the living status of the corresponding twin object in flight. "
From this point of view, the first person to clearly propose the concept of "digital twin" is none other than NASA.
The dispute between the inventors of digital twins
However, the reality is so paradoxical. Most articles currently mention Dr. Michael Grieves from the United States when tracing the origin of digital twins.
△ Dr. Michael Grieves (Michael Grieves), picture source: Internet
What is going on?
Let’s go back to 2016. This year, Dr. Kerr Greaves published an article called "Digital Twins: Mitigating the Unpredictable and Unexpected Behavior of Complex Systems", which provided an abstract and clear explanation of the types and functions of digital twins. describe.
In addition, the article also wrote that he had clearly mentioned "digital twins" in a book in 2011, although at that time these words were just a description of the "information mirror model", the predecessor of digital twins.
According to Dr. Kerr Greaves later, in a speech on product life cycle management (PLM) as early as 2002, he mentioned the mapping relationship between real space and virtual space, which already has a digital twin. all elements.
△ Early model of the concept of digital twins, picture source: Wikipedia
Good guy, he directly advanced the concept of digital twins by nearly ten years. This is why it is widely circulated in the industry that Dr. Michael Grieves is the proposer of the digital twin concept.
Although there are many controversies, judging from the many articles published by Dr. Michael Grieves in 2006, 2011, 2014, and 2016, he proposed product life cycle management, information mirroring model, and later digital twins. The explanations have objectively laid the ideological and theoretical foundation for digital twins.
In fact, if we are willing, the origin of the concept of digital twins can be traced back even further.
In 1991, David Gelernter of the United States wrote a book called "Mirror World", which already contained the germination of the idea of digital twins.
△ David Gelernter, picture source: Wikipedia
In 2004, Chinese researcher Wang Feiyue also published an article titled "Parallel System Methods and Management and Control of Complex Systems", which proposed the concept of parallel systems. This is also very close to digital twins.
△ Wang Feiyue, picture source: Internet
Therefore, we do not have to deliberately investigate who is the inventor of the digital twin concept. It is undoubtedly to pay attention to the fields in which this technical direction can be applied and what changes it can bring to our lives. more meaningful.
Popularization of the concept of digital twins
Digital twins are not essentially a technology, but a methodology for solving complex problems: creating a digital version of a "clone" based on a device or system; the clone is The high-precision simulation of the "ontology" can keep data synchronized with the "ontology" in real time; therefore, any operations to be performed can be verified on the clone first to ensure that the solution is feasible.
△ Application of digital twins in industrial manufacturing, picture source: Internet
In other words, the secret of digital twins is to use "resistant" clones as experimental subjects to find optimal solutions to complex problems, thereby avoiding unreasonableness Decisions endanger “fragile” ontologies.
Since 2017, Gartner has included digital twins in its "super cycle", and the concept has entered the public eye and has experienced rapid growth since then.
At present, digital twins have been widely used in industrial manufacturing, smart cities, infrastructure projects and other fields and continue to spill over, and are constantly infiltrating our main business: the communications industry.
As for what role digital twins can play in communication, let us discuss it in the next issue.
Thank you very much for reading this.
