The Power of Digital Twins in Campus Management
AI has been one of the hottest topics this year, with show-stopping generative AI tech releases and upgrades from companies like OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and Google Deepmind, the developer of Gato and the soon-to-be-released Gemini. And it’s not just a topic of conversation; many companies are using AI to augment internal and external processes. In fact, ChatGPT has grown to over 100 million users every week since its inauguration in November 2022.
We’ve talked about AI in previous blogs and on our podcast. But one niche area we haven’t covered is digital twins. Digital twin applications are already revolutionizing the facility management industry. For large facilities and campuses, where facility management is a large and critical task, digital twins can help refine data tracking to improve the object or system’s performance.
What are Digital Twins?
According to IBM, “A digital twin is a virtual model designed to accurately reflect a physical object.” The physical object itself, let’s say a new piece of manufacturing equipment, will host a number of sensors collecting data on its function and performance. That data is then applied to the digital twin of that machine. The digital twin can then use AI to run simulations based on past and present data to analyze performance issues and provide insight into improving the machine’s functioning.
The example above applies to a specific machine, but there are scalable options. Some digital twins apply to specific parts/components, while others replicate entire systems or networks of technology, expanding to entire facilities and campuses.
Using Digital Twins in Campus Management
A few higher education institutions are already using digital twins or are on their way to applying it. For example, California Polytechnic State University has plans to create a digital twin of the campus, powered by a 5G network, to analyze and improve bandwidth and connectivity across the campus. At Arizona State University, students are building a digital twin of the ASU Tempe campus called the ASUniverse to create digital, interactive learning spaces.
In everything from managing the environment inside buildings to power usage, risk assessment, and optimizing processes, digital twins powered by AI analysis and performance recommendations can revolutionize campus management.
Here are some examples of how digital twins can help you manage your campus:
- Infrastructure management: Digital twins can help monitor and maintain the physical condition and performance of campus buildings and facilities, such as HVAC, lighting, water, waste, and fire systems. Digital twins can also help detect and diagnose faults, predict and prevent failures, and optimize energy consumption and cost. The University of Turin tested the use of cognitive digital twins on two on-campus buildings to dynamically respond to environmental changes.
- Security management: Digital twins can help enhance the safety and security of campus by providing real-time situational awareness, risk assessment, and emergency response. Digital twins can also help simulate and test different scenarios and strategies, such as evacuation, lockdown, and rescue. Especially for those campuses in higher-crime cities, using digital twins to boost on-campus security is a tremendous opportunity.
- Transportation management: Digital twins can help improve mobility and accessibility on campus by optimizing traffic flow, parking, public transit and shared mobility services. Digital twins can also help reduce the environmental impact and carbon footprint of campus transportation by promoting green and sustainable modes of travel.
- Education and research management: Digital twins can help enhance the quality and innovation of education and research on campus by providing immersive and personalized learning experiences, as well as collaborative and interdisciplinary research opportunities. For example, at Arizona State University, students are building a digital twin of the ASU Tempe campus called the ASUniverse to create digital, interactive learning spaces. Digital twins can also help leverage the campus as a living lab where students and faculty can experiment and learn from real-world problems and solutions.
As you can see, digital twins can offer many benefits and opportunities for campus management and overall campus life. It’s a wonderful way to get students plugged into projects that positively impact the campus and provide quality learning experiences. But there are also some challenges to consider, such as the quality, security, privacy, ethics, compatibility, scalability, and sustainability of the data and the technology. So, it is important to think carefully and creatively about how to design, develop, and use digital twins and to involve everyone affected by them. There are so many facets and uses of digital twins in managing a campus. Suffice it to say: if you can dream it, AI and digital twins can probably do it.