Improve High-Risk Asset Inspections with Digital Twins
There’s no question about it: inspection planning for high-risk industrial assets is challenging.
Whether you’re assessing tanks, vessels, tunnels, or pipelines, inspections are often complicated by confined spaces, hazardous conditions, or remote locations.
And more than that, missed details can mean extra costs, rework, or even safety incidents. Which is why many companies are opting to create digital versions of their assets, or digital twins.
What is a Digital Twin?
A digital twin is a detailed, up-to-date digital model of your physical asset. Unlike static drawings or outdated records, a digital twin provides a live, visual record of an asset’s actual condition at a given moment in time. Great for monitoring the condition of your assets over an extended period.
That means teams can inspect, analyse, and plan maintenance without setting foot on site, or without entering confined spaces unnecessarily.
Why It Matters for High-Risk Assets
For industries like mining, oil & gas, energy, or water infrastructure, inspections are essential to ensure safety, integrity, and compliance. But they come with challenges:
- Confined space entries that pose safety risks
- Difficult-to-access or hazardous environments
- High costs for scaffolding, rope access, or site shutdowns
- Inconsistent or outdated records
By creating an accurate digital twin, teams can plan better, reduce risk, and improve inspection outcomes. A good digital twin supports:
- Inspection planning and remote reviews
- Defect tracking over time
- Improved communication between teams
- Evidence for compliance and audits
Many Ways to Capture a Twin – But LiDAR Stands Out
There are many ways to capture data for a digital twin, from manual measurements to photogrammetry. But for complex, high-risk assets, LiDAR mapping offers clear advantages:
- High-resolution, 3D point clouds of internal and external surfaces
- Accurate representation of complex geometries
- Rapid scanning, reducing time on site
- Works in low-light or GPS-denied spaces
For many operators, LiDAR is the best balance of speed, safety, and data quality.
Photogrammetry vs. LiDAR – What’s the Difference?
So what’s the difference between LiDAR & Photogrammetry?
Photogrammetry uses images to build 3D models. It’s great for capturing colour and texture detail at lower cost, but relies on good lighting, has more complex post-processing, and can struggle with dark, reflective, or repetitive surfaces.
LiDAR, by contrast, uses laser pulses to directly measure distances, producing dense, precise 3D point clouds. It works day or night, through poor lighting or vegetation, and delivers faster, more reliable results in complex or hazardous environments.
For industrial asset inspections, especially in confined spaces or challenging conditions, LiDAR-based systems provide a safer, faster, and more consistent way to capture accurate digital twins.
Argus: An Effective LiDAR Mapping Solution
At Nexxis, we’ve seen firsthand the effectiveness of a LiDAR developed digital twin. Which is why we developed Argus to make creating digital twins safer and easier.
Argus is a 3D SLAM-based LiDAR mapping and localisation system that can be mounted on robotic crawlers, drones, or used manually. It’s designed for challenging inspection environments, including:
- Tanks and vessels (inside and out)
- Tunnels and underground spaces
- Pipelines and conduits
- Hazardous or GPS-denied locations
Argus delivers detailed, real-time 3D maps to support planning, inspections, and long-term asset management.
Safer, Smarter Inspection Planning
By investing in digital twin creation with tools like Argus, operators can:
- Reduce or eliminate confined space entries
- Improve inspection consistency and accuracy
- Enable remote reviews and team collaboration
- Plan maintenance work more efficiently
- Track defects and changes over time
Ultimately, it’s about making better decisions with better data, and doing so safely.
Ready to improve your asset inspections? Contact us today about our digital twin solutions, or request a quote online.
