The concept of digital twin is becoming popular in the information technology community. Like many other technologies in the industrial revolution 4.0, digital twins are emerging rapidly thanks to the integration of technologies. This is one of the most advanced Industry 4.0 technology that has been applied to many current operating models of many businesses and giving the strengths in which NFTs came to life. Thanks to cloud technology, Internet of Things (IoT), advanced simulation, and high computing power, the digital twins are definitely a reason that brought about NFT to be a hot emerging technology.
A lot of money is being brought in with the development of this technology. In this article, we take a look at the basics of the digital twin, as well as the potential application of the developing digital twins to figure out where this technology stands in recent years. Why digital twin is said to be a great digital clone of all models right now, details on how it works, all will be clarified in this article.
What are digital twin?
Digital twin creates models which represent systems, products or services, processes of the firms or any other physical things. The representation is implemented by the application of virtual reality or 3D graphic modelling technology. It allows us to create/copy tangible or intangible physical assets of the real world into only one digital version. For example, a T-shirt in real life is tokenized into a digital version which is unique and irreplaceable. And, the interesting thing is, the digital twins of this T-shirt would be an NFT of a T-shirt.
There is a data flow between the replica and the actual object. Through the sensors on the actual system, the replica is updated so that the state of the system can be monitored in real time. Specifically, the digital versions are updated in real time to create an exact replica of the real life version. Similar to the example on the T-shirt, a digital twin of a piece of land also becomes an NFT. When there is a change in that land, the digital asset is also updated and shown.
It’s a technology that can be applied to many environments, including monitoring products while they’re in use and throughout their lifecycle. Examples include but is not limited to: aircraft engines, processes and lines in the manufacturing industries etc. Some companies like Siemens see digital twin as a purely cloud-based asset due to the elasticity and out-of-the-box compute scalability required to run digital twin, while companies like ANSYS argue that the future of digital twins will be like a “hybrid” between cloud computing and edge computing.
The concept of digital twins was introduced by General Electric (GE) to predict damage. It incidents from which to plan for timely replacement and repair. For example, GE will know in advance when a plane’s spare part is broken. The information will be sent to employees to replace it to avoid the affect to flight schedules. They are able to do this thanks to aircraft’s digital twin data (speed, wind speed, fuel level, temperature…) recorded in real time.
Digital Twin and Non-Fungible Tokens
It is no exaggeration to say that digital twins are the factors that create the uniqueness of the NFT. As we all know, NFT is a type of digital asset using blockchain technology to create unique chains of code. It represents a certain item and cannot be replaced. In fact, these NFTs can be encoded from physical assets to digital assets. These assets are converted and created in a digital world by means of conversion to become a digital twin. Those digital assets that correspond to those real assets are called digital twin NFTs.
There are many big brands that have also begun to make their mark on the digital space through the digital twin NFT. For example, Adidas recently partnered with supermodel Karlie Kloss to introduce digital Adidas shoes to users on Decentraland. Sotheby’s also bought a small piece of land in Decentraland’s art district and built a digital replica of its London galleries to host its first digital exhibitions.
With digital twin NFT, we can fully identify physical assets with IoT, using blockchain technology as a reliable protocol to check and confirm asset information. Besides, igital twin becomes the representation of real assets and brings stakeholders closer through the internet. At the same time, NFT also becomes authenticated and secured tokens. Scans of digital assets can be scanned through artificial intelligence.
Digital twin NFT marketplace
The digital twin NFT Marketplace is a one-of-a-kind marketplace only to display digital twins and dedicated users to transact with them. Blockchain technology, such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon, and others, is employed in digital twin markets. To retain the NFT’s uniqueness and indivisible properties, these blockchains include a token standard that solely supports NFT, such as ERC-721 and ERC-1155.
Development on digital twin NFT marketplace
The establishment of a fully functional digital NFT marketplace entails a variety of components and integration.
Blockchain application
For the Digital Twin NFT markets, the developers must choose the right blockchain technology and token specifications. The blockchain should be chosen based on its stability, dependability, and, most importantly, the cost. Ethereum is one of the most popular blockchain networks, but it comes with a heavy price tag. Many blockchains, like Binance Smart Chain, are aiming to provide the greatest services at extremely low transaction costs.
Illustration of store
A digital twin NFT marketplace is required to have a storefront that attracts customers and provides a pleasant user experience. Because there are so many NFT markets popping up these days, the storefront is the only way to distinguish the marketplace from other competitors. The opportunity should be thoroughly used.
Admin panel
The digital twin NFT marketplace should have an admin panel, which will be responsible for the multi-tier hierarchical databases. It will have priority access to the NFT marketplace platform’s digital counterpart to operate the marketplace in all conditions.
Dashboard
The dashboard is used to acquire up-to-date information on the NFT marketplace. They will have comprehensive information on the traffic that the marketplace produces while also being quite useful in ensuring that the marketplace thrives.
Epilogue/Conclusion
Digital twin represents the perfect fusion of software, hardware, IoT-enabled feedback. And most importantly, it enables users to apply 3D model data throughout the entire product lifecycle. There are different views from many analysts about digital twin. But one thing is for sure, digital twin represents the uniqueness of NFT. This concept will continue to grow strongly over the next few years, based on different solutions to solve different challenges of each firm. Once the major players have mastered digital twin technology and achieved the impossible state of NFT, we can expect digital twin development to go deep into consumer goods and be widely adopted more than ever.
About Dandelion Labs
Dandelion Labs is a blockchain product and research agency that leverages the power of blockchain technology. We support the businesses to create their projects in blockchain to power the next generation of decentralized commerce, paving the way for evolution and connection to the digital world. Stay update with our newest advancements by following us on social media:
- Website – https://dandelionlabs.io/
- Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/dandelionlabs.io/
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/dandelionlabs.io
- LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/dandelionlabs
- Twitter – https://twitter.com/dandelionlabsio