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What benefits can digital twins and AI create for Canadian infrastructure projects?
Digital tools can support all phases of large-scale infrastructure projects, from planning and delivery to operations. From approvals to schedules and costs: infrastructure estimates often rely on incomplete or siloed data, creating risk of delays and overruns. But digital twins and AI can change that. These tools collect, integrate and analyze vast datasets, offering stakeholders upsides like:
- Real-time visibility
- Predictive insights
- Collaborative platforms
Taken together, those benefits strengthen planning assumptions as well as delivery execution. What does that look like in practise?
Digital twins are dynamic, digital representations of physical assets, systems or processes that link the physical and digital worlds. They integrate real-time data from a variety of sources, including sensors, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and historical databases, to provide comprehensive insights into the performance, condition and behaviour of their physical counterparts. This technology empowers stakeholders to simulate scenarios, predict outcomes and make informed decisions based on validated and integrated information.
That effectiveness gains additional power when positioned in a common data environment. The digital thread becomes a communication framework, connecting data across the entire lifecycle of an asset, from design and construction to operation and maintenance. This digital thread integrates relevant information seamlessly, makes it accessible to people, facilitates collaboration and helps inform stakeholders’ decisions. You gain a centralized repository for the infrastructure project’s lifecycle data; one in which you can access, share and analyze information in real time to get a holistic view of what’s happening and how the project is evolving.
Over the last three years in particular, digital twin technology has advanced considerably. The advent of new large language models (LLMs) and faster chip speeds means digital simulation now occurs in near-real time, offering predictive capabilities. Meanwhile, the cost of implementing digital twins has decreased significantly over the last four to five years as AI, sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) have become democratized.
Essentially, while digital twin technology isn't new, the improvements have made it much more effective. This capability represents a huge step change for infrastructure planning, delivery and operations — which typically take place in isolated, linear ways that often create inefficiencies and lead to missed opportunities.
By integrating AI with digital twins, infrastructure leaders gain even more benefits. Joining these technologies up empowers you with a systems thinking approach to infrastructure development. Digital twins provide real-time digital representation of physical assets, while AI enhances this capability with its immense processing power and advanced data analysis capabilities. Together, they help leaders navigate the intricacies that traditional methods struggle to manage. By analyzing vast amounts of unstructured data, AI uncovers hidden patterns, predicts potential issues and optimizes resource allocation across all project phases. This synergy breaks down barriers between stakeholders, reduces costs and expedites project delivery.