A digital twin is a virtual replica of a real-world physical product, system, or process, serving as its digital counterpart for purposes such as simulation, integration, testing, monitoring, and maintenance. The concept originated from NASA in 2010 as an attempt to improve the physical-model simulation of spacecraft. Digital twins exist throughout the entire lifecycle of the physical entity they represent and are the underlying premise for Product Lifecycle Management. In the manufacturing industry, digital twin technology is being extended to the entire manufacturing process, allowing benefits such as virtualization to be extended to domains such as inventory management, machinery crash avoidance, tooling design, troubleshooting, and preventive maintenance. Digital twinning also enables extended reality and spatial computing to be applied not just to the product itself but also to all of the business processes that contribute towards its production.
