Azure Digital Twins was first previewed back in 2018 as an IoT platform that enables users to create digital models of physical environments, encompassing the complex relationships existing between different entities in these environments. At its virtual Build conference last month, Microsoft introduced new capabilities for the platform to simplify the creation of IoT connected solutions. Now, it has been revealed that the announced features have made their way into the preview phase.
For starters, custom models of any connected environment can now be created using the Digital Twins Definition Language (DTDL), which is based on the JSON-LD standard. Other Azure IoT services such IoT Plug and Play and Azure Time Series Insights already utilize this language in their models. In order reaffirm its commitment to "openness", Microsoft will continue to keep sharing best practices and shared digital twin models through the Digital Twins Consortium.
A live execution environment will now be provided, coupled with a "powerful query system" to allow for the searching of twins based on a variety of conditions. The ability to create dynamic business logic using external compute resources such as Azure Functions is also available. Various assets such as IoT and IoT Edge devices and existing business systems like ERP can be connected to Digital Twins to further enhance the live execution environment as well.
Similarly, new or existing IoT Hubs can now be used to monitor and manage assets with ease. Digital Twin REST APIs also allow for the usage of data sources other than IoT. Finally, the output retrieved from Digital Twins can be sent through defined event routes to downstream services like Azure Synapse Analytics, Power BI, and more. This process essentially helps create complete end-to-end solutions.
The Azure Digital Twins product page can be visited here to get access to the updated version today.