Study on Digital Twins for Smart Infrastructure Management in Osmanabad.
Background: Rural districts of India, like Osmanabad, are fraught with severe problems in ensuring the resilience of their infrastructure, especially when they are subjected to climate-driven stresses, similar to Osmanabad, ageing of the assets, and inability to adopt proactive strategies. Within the larger context of the drive toward smart cities and inclusive technological development, digital twin (DT) technology provides an innovative approach by generating virtual replicas of physical infrastructure in real time. DTs can transform infrastructure planning and maintenance in environments under resource limitations by utilizing Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, artificial intelligence (AI) analytics, and simulation models. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the potential of digital twins as a tool for infrastructure management in Osmanabad (including bridges, tunnels, and municipal buildings). It sought to assess stakeholder views, technical readiness, and ethical issues, and to develop an intervention adoption framework based on local need. Methods: The Study The study followed a qualitative explorative design applying semi-structured interviews, FGDs, and field notes. The study obtained data from city engineers, civil engineering faculty, disaster response responders, and local tech start-up entrepreneurs. The infrastructure gaps, digital readiness, and simulation feasibility were identified through SWOT analysis and thematic coding of qualitative data. Results: The results indicated high stakeholder concerns with predictive maintenance and real-time monitoring. City buildings were identified as potential pilot projects because of the moderate digital documentation and access. Yet challenges, such as insufficient simulation capacity, funding gaps, and ethical issues (in particular, data privacy) are obstacles that need urgent policy and institutional focus. Conclusion: Finally, digital twins offer a disruptive potential to rural infrastructure planning in such districts, e.g., Osmanabad. Through strategic collaboration, phased rollout, and open governance of a technology that could have a transformative impact from a resilience and sustainability perspective, this scenario could define India’s new smart regions.
Keywords: Digital Twins, Smart Infrastructure, Osmanabad, AI Analytics, Simulation Modelling, Resilience.
