DIGITAL TWINS AND PHOTOGRAMMETRY
While the term “digital twin” has been around since 2010, it’s only in the last few years that the technology has gained significant traction across industries. Digital twins—virtual replicas of physical assets—are transforming how companies monitor, manage, and optimize real-world processes. By mirroring the physical world in a virtual environment, digital twins allow businesses to simulate operations, predict maintenance needs, and improve decision-making without physical intervention. One of the tools behind this technology is photogrammetry, which enables the creation of hyper-accurate digital twins using images captured from real-life objects. In this article, we explore how photogrammetry is transforming industries by making digital twins more accessible and precise.
What is a Digital Twin?
A digital twin is a true-to-life virtual copy of any real-world physical object, system or person. Anything in the world can have a digital twin, even you! This virtual copy can then be implemented into different simulations for testing, designing, optimizing or, when actively updated using real-time data from sensors or cameras, monitoring and maintenance. This allows organizations optimize performance, identify potential issues, and make informed decisions without having to interact directly with the physical asset.
How Photogrammetry Creates Digital Twins
Photogrammetry offers a non-invasive, cost-effective, and highly precise method for capturing the geometry, texture, and details of any object or person, large or small. By using high-resolution images taken from multiple angles, photogrammetry software generates accurate 3D models of physical assets and people. With an automated workflow, such as the one integrated into our 3D scanners, virtual replicas can be created in a fraction of the time in comparison to other 3D scanning techniques. These models can then be incorporated into a system, where they are updated with live data from cameras, sensors, and other sources.
Applications of Digital Twins Across Industries
Manufacturing
Digital twins can play a part in the entire manufacturing process. They enable manufacturers to monitor the performance of production lines, optimize factory layouts and warehouse stock, and run virtual simulations for product design and testing.
Healthcare
In the medical field, virtual replicas of equipment and even human organs can be used for virtual testing, diagnosis, and training. This allows for personalized medicine and the ability to foresee the outcomes of certain treatments.
Automotive Industry
Digital twins enable automotive manufacturers to simulate vehicle performance, test new designs and optimize production processes in a virtual environment, reducing costs and accelerating time to market. By integrating digital twins with real-time sensor data, automakers can monitor the health of vehicles on the road, predict maintenance needs and improve safety.
Benefits of Photogrammetry for Digital Twins
Photogrammetry offers a highly efficient and accurate method for creating digital twins by capturing detailed 3D models from real-world objects. The speed of photogrammetry is it’s main advantage, especially when using multiple cameras arranged on a photogrammetry rig, and when using a glass turntable to remove the need for flipping or repositioning, such as in our 3D STUDIO SCANNER.
A scan can take as little as 0,2 seconds if you digitize a person in our NEO full-body scanner. An object takes around 1 minute 40 seconds in our 3D OBJECT SCANNER, as the images are taken successively. This enables quick data acquisition, making it ideal for industries that require up-to-date, real-time representations of physical assets. Additionally, photogrammetry’s ability to capture intricate textures and geometries ensures that digital twins are not only visually accurate but also functional for detailed analysis, predictive maintenance, and operational optimization.
The Future of Digital Twins with Photogrammetry
As technology continues to advance, the integration of photogrammetry with digital twins will become even more sophisticated. The future of this technology, driven by advancements in 3D scanning, is set to be revolutionized by the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT refers to the network of physical devices—ranging from sensors, smart appliances, vehicles and buildings—that are embedded with technology to collect and exchange data. When combined with digital twins, IoT enables real-time data streaming from physical assets to their virtual counterparts, allowing businesses to monitor performance, detect issues, and optimize operations in real time.
As photogrammetry continuous to evolve and become more automated and precise, it will allow industries to predict maintenance needs, optimize systems and improve decision-making to a level of accuracy and rapidity previously unattainable.
Conclusion
Digital twins are shaping the future of industries by providing hyper-accurate virtual replicas of physical assets, and photogrammetry is playing a crucial role in making this technology accessible and effective. Whether you’re in manufacturing, design, healthcare or the automotive industry, integrating photogrammetry-based digital twins can help you optimize performance, reduce costs, and stay ahead of the competition while we enter Industry 4.0.
If you’re ready to explore the benefits of this technology for your organization, contact us today!
