Unity partnered with the Vancouver Airport Authority (VAA) this month to deploy large-scale enterprise-grade digital twins to ensure success in environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) use cases.
Unity, a leading provider of RT3D engine development tools, is supplying the aviation firm with “dynamic virtual copies” of the VA’s physical assets, processes, systems, and environments.
The partnership sees the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) adopt digital twins to “reimagine” airport operations.
Lynette DuJohn, the CIO of the Vancouver Airport Authority, said:
At YVR, we want our people to have the tools they need to succeed in a dynamic environment. The digital twin technology solves many airport-related challenges and provides an incredible layer of situational awareness for our employees.
Unity and YVR Levereage “People-First” Digital Twins Solutions
YVR is leveraging Unity-powered digital twins to start a transition towards adopting emerging enterprise technology solutions, to improve operations, complete sustainability goals, and meet social considerations.
By leveraging future of work tools, YVR is attempting to secure “people-first” technology that benefits frontline workers, designers, and community members.
The Unity digital twins provide the select working groups with historical and real-time 3D data that streamlines workflows and optimise collaboration.
The YVR Situational Awareness Module
YVR is leveraging Unity digital twins to provide its workforce with a situational awareness module that provides a real-time and interactive virtual airport representation.
The solutions enable YVR workers to view a virtual version of the location’s terminal from various angles. When a user highlights an area of the airport, data sets will appear, showcasing real-time or historical information concerning the selected site.
The firm’s situational awareness module also allows staff to respond quickly to airport-wide events and improve side efficiency. Moreover, users can manage data sets appearing during a session to avoid data and UI overload. The data sets also give workers alerts to highlight if an area is facing pain points.
The digital twin integration also helps to predict passenger flow, allocate resources, avoid costly errors via virtual troubleshooting ahead of real-world implementations, and optimise data-gathering procedures.
Hitting 2030 Sustainability Goals with XR Tools
A digital twin solution also enables a range of workers to view an accurate version of a space near-instantly without needing to travel to a location. Moreover, workers and partners worldwide can collaborate on a digital twin and its integrated data to complete tasks remotely, allowing firms to achieve sustainability goals while collaborating over large-scale data types.
According to Unity’s promotional video covering the partnership, YVR’s digital twin adoption helps the firm eliminate emissions and reach its net zero by 2030 goal.
DuJohn also noted:
We’re going to be net zero by 2030 versus 2050, so we need to move our plan up by 20 years. Being able to model all of those scenarios is going to be very powerful for us to really get our arms around efficiency and climate.
Moreover, as part of its reconciliation goals, YVR is also deploying a Unity training program to Musqueam Indian Band learners.
The Unity YVR partnership showcases how enterprise end-users can adopt flexible immersive tools to ensure success across various use cases. Unity is an easy-to-use platform famed for its history of supporting a wide range of developer talent. With the firm’s move towards a more comprehensive RT3D support portfolio, the firm is also bringing this flexibility and usability to enterprise clients.
