Capgemini and SATAVIA to collaborate on climate- and cost-saving digital twin applications

We look to constantly advance how we help clients speed their sustainability journeys and conduct business more efficiently. According to research from the Capgemini Research Institute’s survey of 1,000 organisations, 57% of organisations view digital twin technology as pivotal to improving their sustainability efforts, with a further 79% identifying cost-saving benefits. Our new collaboration with SATAVIA, a Cambridge-based SME, aims to further tailor our offering by combining SATAVIA’s DECISIONX software with Capgemini’s digital twin services.

A digital world

DECISIONX:5-DX is a digital twin – a virtual replica – of the Earth’s atmosphere. Created in conjunction with UK Research and Innovation and the European Space Agency, it integrates weather prediction modelling, earth observation data and global asset-tracking to provide easily accessible atmospheric data. The world appears as 6 billion model cells, which can be visualised at 30 second intervals.

This high-resolution simulation of the Earth’s atmosphere enables decision-making in five dimensions: latitude, longitude, altitude, time and probability. We’re now exploring how this decision-making capability could benefit Capgemini’s clients. By investigating uses of DECISIONX:5-DX alongside the digital twins that we create for businesses, we plan to continue advancing how clients simulate their future operations.

Benefits for clients could include a reduction in the costs associated with research and development, and from asset ownership. The software can also enable clients to reduce their climate footprint in two ways: first, by simulating scenarios digitally rather than in the real world, and second, by enabling clients to identify and mitigate their climate impact when planning their business operations.

Reducing aviation’s climate impact

What could this look like in practice? One area where Capgemini and SATAVIA will collaborate is to explore ways to expand the commercial reach of SATAVIA’s DECISIONX:NETZERO contrail prevention platform, powered by DECISIONX:5-DX. Contrails are the condensation trails that are sometimes left behind in the sky by aircraft. These trails trap and absorb heat that would otherwise escape into space, causing up to 60% of aviation’s total climate impact – the equivalent of 2% of all human-induced climate change.

Contrails can be prevented if aircraft avoid areas where atmospheric conditions mean these trails will form. By making it possible to digitally simulate which flightpaths would result in contrails, DECISIONX:NETZERO offers a way for the aviation industry to quantify and reduce its climate footprint. Furthermore, by quantifying achieved benefit for conversion into future carbon offset credits, SATAVIA is generating new business models to incentivise eco-conscious operators and ESG use-cases.

Smarter planning

Capgemini and SATAVIA are exploring benefits for clients from industries beyond aviation. We are investigating how using digital twins to simulate the impact of atmospheric conditions on business operations can facilitate better asset management, through use of SATAVIA’s DECISIONX:FLEET platform.

The platform enables condition monitoring for static and mobile assets on land, sea and air, for any location globally, simulating the exposure of assets to atmospheric contaminants and climatic effects. This allows companies and other stakeholders to shift towards smarter predictions of maintenance requirements – saving costs by avoiding unscheduled downtime and helping prolong asset lifetime. SATAVIA has already deployed DECISIONX:FLEET with a major defence operator and is actively seeking further engagements by working with Capgemini.

The way ahead

By collaborating, we hope to assist our clients to apply industry-leading atmospheric digital twin intelligence to their own operations. We look forward to exploring how our clients realise climate and financial benefits, starting by carefully examining the different potential use cases.