How XR Accelerates Digital Twin Technology
Manufacturing has embraced digital and virtual tools to improve training, maintenance and remote support, and the benefits are evident. Emerging around 2002, digital twins quickly became indispensable for end-to-end digital processes in the industrial value chain. Extended Reality or ‘XR’ is an umbrella term for Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). While digital twin technology has always helped to bridge the gap between virtual and physical realms, XR extends its capabilities several steps further. This blog discusses in detail how XR is accelerating this technology for global machine hardware manufacturers.
Challenges of Industrial 3D Data
While the benefits of digital twins and XR are evident, it is important to remember that manufacturing and engineering place high demands on the visualization of digital twins due to the size and complexity of the data models used. Digital twins must be comprehensive representations of their physical counterparts, such as in digitization of prefab workflows. Visual quality is also paramount: when you have to visualize models, such as prototypes, you need to work with the original CAD files, and they need to be displayed at their actual size, with the same level of detail. These are big demands, and poor visual quality or delays to image rendering can introduce inefficiencies, inaccuracy, and risk across the entire manufacturing lifecycle. It is also a big-time drain: visualizing large and complex products (e.g., pressure vessels) in detail in 3D can involve time-consuming data preparation or conversion. The limited performance of XR mobile devices and the effort required to prepare data are significant challenges for XR developers and users. Manufacturers often struggle with the quality of content in XR and the security of sensitive data stored on the XR device. This is where XR streaming technology comes in, offering the power to effectively visualize digital twins in real-time.
Benefits of XR Streaming
As the demand for digital twins and XR applications increases in manufacturing processes such as pipe fabrication Australia, companies are looking to XR streaming to ensure high-fidelity visuals, high performance, and high security. By leveraging XR streaming, manufacturers can stream high quality XR experiences from local servers as well as cloud infrastructures to their XR devices. They can build XR apps which can be hosted in the cloud or on a local server. The advantage is that all the heavy processing is now done by a much more powerful computer, and companies can experience their XR applications at the highest quality. Using XR streaming, augmented and virtual reality apps do not run on the devices themselves but on a local server or the cloud, ensuring high-quality data visualization and improved manufacturing traceability. When streaming from a local server to an end device, companies can ensure data is protected by centrally managed security measures, reducing the risk of data theft or unauthorized access to sensitive information.
Closing Thoughts
The XR ecosystem is evolving, and XR streaming technology is only one component of the bigger picture. Most manufacturers want to use various XR apps and today, XR platforms are emerging that handle streaming and host apps. The synergy between digital twins and XR platforms will continue to improve and evolve over time, opening up new use cases in global machine hardware manufacturing. More and more, manufacturers are recognizing the power of XR streaming to address the demands of visualizing complex industrial data, ensuring high-fidelity visuals and robust data security by using powerful servers for processing. The combination of digital twins and XR will continue to optimize processes and foster sustainable practices, transforming the manufacturing landscape for the better.
