Virtual Commissioning of Linked Cells Using Digital Models in an Industrial Metaverse

Abstract

Various software environments have been developed in the past to create digital twins of single cells or a digital twin of a factory. Each environment has its own strengths and weaknesses and has been designed with a specific focus. The environments that are able to holistically simulate complete factories are limited in terms of the modelling details required for the analysis of single manufacturing cells (e.g., manufacturer-independence of the individual digital twins) and their ability for virtual commissioning. This paper presents three options for realising a virtual commissioning of linked cells using a 3D integration platform with NVIDIA Omniverse, consisting of two different digital models fused into a combined model, also representing material flow. First, with a source/sink solution and unidirectional connector controlled by OPC UA; secondly, with a bidirectional connector, developed in the course of this elaboration, and an extension of the 3D integration platform controlled by Apache Kafka; thirdly, with a bidirectional connector and using only an extension of the 3D integration platform. The research demonstrates that virtually commissioning multiple linked digital twins from different manufacturers in a 3D platform with material flow makes a significant contribution to the industrial metaverse.