How a College or University Could Use Digital Twins
One task for a school facilities management team might be to identify the best use of available space throughout the day, which can vary depending on the day of the week and time of year.
The first step, Ochoa explains, would be to model the built environment: the buildings and rooms. Then, embed a simulator — which, in the case of higher education, would be an agent-based simulator — to see students moving around and identify where they usually hang out.
“And you might see that, ‘This really makes sense. The simulator is telling me that at 12 p.m., a lot of people are here and not there. So, maybe we can allocate a space for these other activities,’” Ochoa says.
A digital twin can also help an institution’s facilities management team optimize temperature control in real time based on room size, the amount of light coming in from the windows, time of day, time of year and other factors. Doing so can increase the comfort and health of students and faculty, reduce energy consumption and save on costs. This scenario would require informing the model with historical data collected over the course of an entire school year or longer.
“Ideally, the more data, the better,” Ochoa adds.
READ MORE: What to know about dark data in higher education.
What Colleges Need To Consider About Digital Twins
While digital twin technology is slowly becoming less expensive, higher ed institutions must first consider the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of developing the technology in-house or outsourcing to a specialized company.
It’s also important to research the minimum data and time requirements involved, including any concerns regarding student data privacy — especially in scenarios that would require the use of more personal student data, such as determining patterns of illness or attendance.
When implemented, digital twin technology can be an extremely useful tool in optimizing a school’s facilities management, as long as the questions that need to be resolved are clear.
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