Digital Twins

Airports are experiencing severe capacity constraints. As the number of flights and passengers is expected to skyrocket in the next years, airports will confront a slew of new obstacles, not least in making the most of their existing infrastructure and amenities. Air travel is increasing and is predicted to grow over the next two decades. That may appear to be excellent news for business. However, when you consider that airports will only expand by 5% of their existing levels over the same time span, the predicted increase is likely to cause serious capacity concerns. To meet this challenge, airports will need to increase efficiency by encouraging collaboration among all stakeholders and adopting cutting-edge technology. With the introduction of smart airports, the technological side of the equation is already making progress. These high-tech facilities, like small-scale smart cities, take advantage of today’s IoT technologies, tapping into massive amounts of data to efficiently handle duties ranging from parking to passport inspections. Mastering these issues will require a combination of collaboration and cutting-edge technology. Digital twins are expected to play a key part in this. What is a Digital Twin? The term “Digital Twin” refers to a digital representation of physical assets, processes, and systems, as well as their dynamics, that can be used for a variety of purposes. Digital Twin is a digitalization technology that connects the actual and virtual worlds. It makes use of real-time data and other sources to improve decision-making by enabling learning, reasoning, and dynamic evolution. This twin model gathers data and employs physics-based simulations to create a data-rich model that performs identically to its real-world counterpart. The digital twin technique replaces all design assumptions with real data, resulting in a real-time operational model of the structure. How Digital Twin is Empowering Airports? Construction of Airports is a huge undertaking, time-consuming, and labor-intensive process. Therefore, it becomes critical that the project must first be conceptualized and realized in the real world. Every component of construction must be addressed, from design briefs to exact architectural line drawings, modeling, testing, and iterative modifications. Every step of the process must also be communicated between the architect, engineer, and construction chains. With the use of a “digital twin,” or digital copy of a physical thing, traditional design, production, and operational processes can all be accelerated and automated. As a result, Digital Twin can be utilized as a foundation for prefabrication as well as a more important method of enhancing industrialized efficiency. Digital Twins offer a risk-free way of simulating construction, logistics, and fabrication sequences with the supply chain for Capex projects as well as optimizing design and allowing stakeholders to visualize emergency evacuations and resilience to extreme weather conditions. For an Opex project’s performance, digital twins will truly become the organization’s virtual operating system combining data from continuous surveys, photogrammetry, LiDAR, and sensors with asset tracking on a timeline. This will allow asset managers to move the digital representation of the infrastructure asset and related real-world conditions forward or backward in time. The transformation will be fueled by rising demand, growing complexity, and more powerful design authoring tools. The industry is already realizing benefits from digital twins in terms of risk management, decreasing rework, and increasing efficiencies in project delivery. Digital Twins in HKIA & Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Schiphol, a major international airport in the Netherlands, is already using digital twin technology to improve operational efficiency and address capacity challenges. The airport has been using Building Information Modeling (BIM) as part of its asset management for the past five years. Schiphol’s operator is able to keep track of the functioning state of equipment like elevators by constructing 3D digital twins of its buildings, enabling speedy maintenance in the event of outages – and efficiently rerouting passengers. And that’s not the only advantage digital twins provide to travelers: the data collected by the technology allows for new processes to be implemented via applications and screens, resulting in a more comfortable and hassle-free voyage. “The airport’s digital asset twin provides the opportunity to run simulations on potential operational failures throughout the entire complex, which saves us both time and money,” said Kees van ’t Hoog, head of the Development Operations team at Schiphol Airport. Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) Another key player, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), is implementing digital twins as part of its drive to become a smart airport. The virtual replicas will use the gathered data to make recommendations for actions, hence improving decision-making. Machine learning will eventually allow technology to suggest new decision-making rules based on previous experience, greatly streamlining the process. HKIA, like Schiphol, expects digital twins to improve maintenance, lower costs, unify procedures, eliminate rework, and improve passenger service. To satisfy future demand and retain its standing as a world-class international aviation hub, Hong Kong International Airport is expanding. Leighton Asia, a leading multinational construction company, is in charge of the airport’s Terminal 2 foundation and substructure development. The foundation and substructure work at Hong Kong International Airport’s Terminal 2 extension is being delivered safely and efficiently thanks to Leighton Asia’s digital capabilities. Leighton Asia, based in Hong Kong, has been involved in high-profile infrastructure and construction projects in Asia for more than 45 years. It is one of the few contractors in Asia to earn the British Standards Institute Kitemark for excellence in Building Information Management and the new ISO 19650 standards series. The foundation and substructure work for HKIA’s Terminal 2 extension has been assigned to the international construction firm. With the help of digital engineering and new BIM technology, Leighton Asia takes a collaborative approach with all project stakeholders. “As a company, we’re always searching for methods to streamline and optimize procedures in order to establish a more sustainable business at all levels,” says Colman Wong, general manager of Leighton Asia in Hong Kong. “We’re always improving our delivery strategies to assure the greatest levels of safety and quality.” We want to be a leader of good change in the construction sector by