Digital Twin for Monitoring an Industrial Process Using Augmented Reality

Abstract

A Digital Twin (DT) is a virtual representation of a physical object which plays an important role in the digital transformation of industry, where an important requirement for intelligent manufacturing is cyber-physical integration. One of the objectives is to improve the performance of the real system using the information generated in the virtual part. The present paper shows the development of a low-cost DT used for monitoring the state of the process and the product development using augmented reality (AR) and free software for its configuration and programming. The design was tested in the MPS 500 classification station, which is a modular production station that has industrial sensors and actuators and was controlled with a Raspberry Pi (RPi) board responsible for sending data to the Firebase cloud to further show the DT in real-time in a mobile phone. Results show that with the help of the DT and AR, it is possible to automate industrial processes and monitor them from different places, collecting and analyzing data to achieve the implementation of solutions based on the data generated by the DT, enabling a greater level of digitalization and information to increase the efficiency and reliability of the processes.