Dr. Fetty Fitriyanti Lubis, ST, MT, lecturer at the School of Electrical and Informatics Engineering (STEI) Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), had the opportunity to explain the role of digital twins in various sectors of life in a public lecture "Digital Twin-Bridge Between the Real World and the Digital World" at a webinar, last April.

Dr. Fetty explained that a digital twin represents an entity that is useful for increasing practical benefits. The objects and their data in the real world are modeled in digital form, then integrated to improve their interactions, then the experience aspect is included to see the impact.

"Digital twin activities certainly cannot be done haphazardly," Dr. Fetty confirmed. He stated that technical aspects need to be considered to obtain holistic modeling, such as gathering information from various sources, synchronizing data, and security.

Later the digital twin can be used in various sectors of life, such as manufacturing, automotive, health, retail, and smart cities.
In the manufacturing sector, the digital twin is carried out to obtain high-quality products. In the automotive industry, digital twins play a role in predicting engine performance, tracking the age of autonomous vehicles, testing new safety features without vehicles, and testing artificial intelligence (AI) in digital environments. In the health sector, digital twins are known to visualize hospital systems so that system performance and security can be appropriately evaluated. Not to be left behind, in the retail sector, digital twins are known to be able to improve the retail customer experience through simulating specific product models, testing the potential of new products, and innovating the creation of trends based on digital models. Finally, digital twins can predict daily consumption, analyze comfort, and more in the innovative city sector.

The presence of a digital twin does provide many benefits for human life. However, this intelligent system still faces several challenges, such as connectivity issues, hardware that can support it, and much more. "However, at least the digital twin is a new disruption that leads to the progress of the nation and state," concluded Dr. Fetty.

Reporter: Zahra Annisa Fitri (Region and City Planning, 2019)
Translator: Billy A. Prabowo