- Group one of three national infrastructure owners to pledge resources to project using simulation tech to overcome impact of climate change on UK’s built environment.
- Tranche of UK universities and research institutes involved too.
- Yet another example of BT dipping toes into ‘digital twin’ realm.
BT Group signed a “collaboration agreement” with utilities Anglian Water and UK Power Networks to examine the real-world application of digital twin technology, as part of the UK government-funded National Digital Twin programme (NDTp).
Collaboration will focus on the development of a Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo), a platform that enables the companies to model and simulate responses to the effects of extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall and flooding, on virtual representations of their infrastructure assets (also known as ‘digital twins’).
CReDo is to provide a secure method of sharing this information. It is hoped that insights accumulated through use of the platform will improve the “climate adaption and resilience” of the UK’s energy, telecoms, and water infrastructure.
Academia and industry from different regions in the UK will collaborate with the companies on the development of CReDo. The universities of Cambridge, Exeter, Newcastle, and Warwick are involved, as is data analytics consultancy DAFNI; the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council; CMCL Innovations; the Joint Centre for Excellence in Environmental Intelligence; and international structural engineering firm Mott MacDonald (unclear is at what capacity).
BT and its CReDo partners are to officially launch the project as part of the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2021 via a webinar scheduled for 2 November 2021.
CReDo falls under the umbrella of Centre for Digital Built Britain-supported NDTp, the fruit of a partnership between Cambridge University and the UK Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy. NDTp, launched in 2018, was set up to gestate an ecosystem of “connected digital twins” with the aim of fostering “better outcomes” for the UK’s built environment. It is being delivered using an Information Management Framework so data sharing between the three companies is guided by certain “security, legal, commercial, [and] privacy” considerations.
Digital twin technology is already adopted in industries such as automotive, construction, and manufacturing, where it is being augmented by advanced techniques such as data analytics and machine learning, as well as 5G technology and the Internet of Things.
Another example of the telco’s engagement in this field is a tie-up with UK vehicle battery manufacturer Hyperbat, with which it is developing a 5G-based virtual reality digital twin to accelerate the manufacturing process for hybrid and electric vehicles. The solution works by enabling remote teams spread across the country to interact on this process via a 3D engineering model or hologram (BTwatch, #323).
