Building a virtual twin for the Northern Territory

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Secora was tasked by the Northern Territory Government to accelerate and de-risk the delivery of infrastructure needed to satisfy security needs. We chose an ambitious solution: to rapidly assemble an expert team and focus them on a single goal – to build a virtual twin of key strategic areas of the Top End within six weeks.

THE PROJECT

The Northern Territory Virtual Twin is a digital planning tool. Its purpose is to support and enable the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and its allies to plan its requirements for defence infrastructure supply chains – including fuel and other logistics – across the Territory.

Harnessing the power of data, the Virtual Twin can be used to explore scenarios through simulation to optimise planning, logistics, training and asset management programs.

WHO WE’RE WORKING WITH

The project was developed through a strategic partnership between the NT Government, Secora, Dassault Systèmes and AMC Search. This partnership brought together three organisations with specific expertise across digital innovation, critical infrastructure, and defence.

Darwin and surrounds. Northern Australia is facing a period of unprecedented defence project activity due to the changing strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific.

THE CHALLENGE

A virtual twin is a detailed, scientifically accurate, constantly evolving digital model of a complex asset. It simulates the object’s real-world functions using real-time data and machine learning. It enables organisations to run simulations on that model to explore how the project will behave when built, operated, or subjected to a range of events. As the project goes through its lifecycle, new sources of data can be added to inform its operation and future planning.

It allows the client to:

Model the impact of a major project on the surrounding community both during and after construction;
Forecast the potential impacts on other users of the port facilities;
Provide a high-fidelity 3D model to aid in community consultation; and
Prepare future use scenarios.

The NT Virtual Twin can ingest and visualise building and data models created in popular design applications, at all stages of the asset lifecycle.

Secora’s John Grout takes a RAN officer through the Virtual Twin’s capabilities at IndoPacific 2022, April 2022

THE RESULT

This virtual twin – a first of its kind in Australia – incorporates data on geography, infrastructure, services and marine patterns to plan the establishment of a strategic port in Darwin Harbour.

Delivered in just six weeks, the virtual twin of Darwin Harbour is being used to support engagement with the Commonwealth Government and its counterparts in the US.

The Darwin Harbour virtual twin aids in determining:

Potential facility locations that account for proximity to services, geographic conditions and strategic considerations;
The design and configuration of infrastructure to best meet the needs of the NT government, as well as the domestic and international users of Darwin Harbour; and
Planning options for potential future applications and users for Darwin Harbour.

Initially focused on Darwin Harbour, the Virtual Twin has now been expanded to multiple locations of strategic significance including the Gove Peninsula, which also has an accompanying Virtual Reality experience.