Editor's Pick: Adding digital twins to existing workflows

Engineering simulation specialist Altair launches a new digital twin initiative, designed to enable teams to incorporate digital twin capabilities into their existing workflows. 

The company says their “One Total Twin” initiative is not about new applications, but instead enables existing Altair applications to connect and display in a digital twin environment. The company says its approach to data for digital twins will be open and vendor neutral.

In the first stages of this initiative, Altair is focusing on three fundamental workflow stages: pre-production; post-production; and in-service. 

In the pre-production stage, Altair says it is adding toolsets for creating “as-specified” twins. The company says this will cover system requirements, development, validation, real-world performance prediction, streamlined mechatronic product development and more. Enabling digital twin performance at this stage, Altair says, will allow teams to design, analyze and optimize systems without expensive prototypes. Altair products to offer digital twin capabilities in this pre-production stage include Activate, Inspire, Drive and HyperWorks. 

Altair is focusing on three fundamental workflow stages: pre-production; post-production; and in-service. Image courtesy of Altair.

The post-production stage will bring new digital twin capabilities to Altair products including Embed, MotionSolve, Panopticon and HyperStudy. There will be toolsets for “as-built” and “as-manufactured” twins. Altair says using twins at this stage allows teams to evaluate advanced virtual system dynamics. 

The new Altair digital twin technology for in-service systems will bring new features to products including SmartWorks, Monarch and Knowledge Studio. The company says these new features will extend digital twin benefits to predictive maintenance and analytics. 

The Altair Digital Twin initiative is an ongoing effort. For current status of any specific aspect, click here. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.