One of the actions included in the Detecta project is the investigation of the Digital Twin concept in industrial manufacturing environments, using non-intrusive physical-digital characterization techniques to support a hybrid approach applied to predictive maintenance and cyber-security tasks through the detection of anomalies.

In this research process, it is concluded that digitization gives the production process several analysis capabilities that enable continuous process improvement.

However, changes on an industrial scale require the identification of intelligent maintenance needs adapted to a fully updated interactive process control and learning, integrated with management tools that will be essential to obtain optimal efficiency of the systems. In this way, we can improve the installation, based on what is actually happening instead of simply reacting to unexpected events, because based on the trend of indicators, we can schedule in advance a shutdown to change a mechanical element, or stop production if the number of defects increases severely in a very short time.

Regarding cybersecurity, with the use of real industrial components such as PLCs, sensors, actuators, SCADA, industrial protocols, and the programming of plant control sequences by process experts, it is possible to build a characterization or Digital Twin of a real critical infrastructure connected to the Internet, which responds truthfully to changes caused by an attack on the behavior of the automated system. However, many of the changes related to remote access prioritize operability over security, increasing the exposure to cybersecurity risks and threats that have not been properly evaluated, and for which companies are not prepared.

Once this analysis has been carried out, the Digital Twin visual interface has been provided, for the creation of a virtual, non-intrusive representation of variables and indicators of the industrial manufacturing scenario under investigation. This interface takes into account parameters such as search by date, selection of filters (operations, tools and materials), selection of variables, visualization with zoom and incident annotation; and variables such as temperature, current intensity and acceleration.

Detecta is a project supported by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade.