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Ronny Elsner
Ronny Elsner

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Digital Twin Documentation Doesn't Scale - Here's Why

#automation #discuss #documentation

TL;DR

After 25 years testing industrial systems, I've watched Digital Twin projects stumble over a boring problem: creating documentation, training materials, and test data for thousands of components. The tech works. The content creation doesn't scale.

The Moment I Realized We Had a Problem

January 2016, 11:47 PM.

I'm writing documentation for component #847 of a vehicle testing system. The temperature sensor on the rear left brake disc.

It's almost identical to components #846, #845, #844...

Copy. Paste. Adjust three parameters. Save.

842 components to go.

At that moment I thought: This can't be how industrial digitalization works in 2024.

The Hidden Bottleneck Nobody Talks About

When companies announce their Digital Twin projects, they showcase:

  • ✨ Real-time data streaming
  • 🤖 AI-powered analytics
  • 📊 Predictive maintenance
  • 🚀 Revolutionary insights

What they don't mention:

Someone has to document every single component.

The Brutal Math

Let's look at a mid-sized manufacturing plant implementing Digital Twins:

The Setup:

  • 1,000 components (sensors, actuators, controllers)
  • Data flowing via CAN bus, OPC UA, MQTT
  • Multiple stakeholders (engineers, technicians, QA, operations)

What each component needs:

📄 Technical Documentation:

  • Datasheet with specifications
  • Communication protocol details
  • Integration requirements
  • Update history

📚 Training Materials:

  • For field technicians
  • For maintenance crew
  • For operators
  • For engineers

🔬 Test Data:

  • Realistic sensor patterns
  • Edge cases
  • Failure scenarios
  • Integration test sequences

📋 Operational Docs:

  • Troubleshooting guides
  • Calibration procedures
  • Maintenance schedules
  • Safety protocols

The Math:
1,000 components × 5 document types = 5,000 documents
Average time: 2 hours per document
Total: 10,000 hours = 5 person-years
Just for the initial documentation.

And when a component gets updated? Start over.

Why This Problem Is Invisible

I've led pre-production testing for hundreds of industrial systems. Here's the typical project timeline:

Month 1-6: The Honeymoon Phase

  • Engineers build the hardware
  • Network architecture works
  • Data flows beautifully
  • Dashboards look impressive
  • Everyone's excited

Month 7: Reality Check

  • "We need documentation for production"
  • "QA needs test scenarios"
  • "Technicians need training materials"
  • "Operations needs troubleshooting guides"

Month 8-10: The Documentation Death March

  • Copy-paste from last project
  • Manually customize everything
  • Hope nothing breaks
  • Stay late to finish
  • Project delays accumulate

The problem?

Nobody blames "documentation bottleneck."

They blame:

  • "Testing delays"
  • "Change management issues"
  • "Integration complexity"
  • "Resource constraints"

The real culprit stays hidden in plain sight.

Real-World Example: Automotive Testing

Project: Vehicle dynamics testing system
Timeline: 2019-2020

The System:

  • 127 CAN bus sensors
  • 43 actuators
  • 18 control units
  • 5,200 data points per second

Development: 8 months
Documentation: 4 months

Documentation consumed 33% of total project time.

And this was one vehicle model.

The manufacturer had 47 models in their lineup.

The Copy-Paste Trap

The standard "solution":

  1. Find documentation from last project
  2. Copy the relevant parts
  3. Search-and-replace component names
  4. Manually adjust specifications
  5. Hope you didn't miss anything
  6. Repeat 999 more times

Problems with this approach:

❌ Inconsistency: Each document slightly different
❌ Errors: Copy-paste mistakes compound
❌ Outdated: Based on old projects
❌ Incomplete: "We'll add that later" (never happens)
❌ Unmaintainable: Updates are nightmares

But most critically:

❌ Doesn't scale: Works for 10 components, breaks at 100, impossible at 1,000

Why Traditional Automation Fails

"Just use a template!"

Tried that. Templates work for:

  • Identical components
  • Standard formats
  • Simple specifications

They break down when:

  • Components have unique characteristics
  • Different protocols need different explanations
  • Stakeholders need different detail levels
  • Context matters (location, function, dependencies)

"Hire technical writers!"

We did. Two problems:

  1. Domain expertise: Understanding CAN DBC files, OPC UA nodes, MQTT topics requires engineering background
  2. Scale: Even a team of technical writers can't keep up with 1,000+ components

"Use documentation software!"

Documentation tools help with:

  • ✅ Version control
  • ✅ Formatting
  • ✅ Publishing
  • ✅ Collaboration

They don't help with:

  • ❌ Content creation
  • ❌ Technical accuracy
  • ❌ Consistency at scale
  • ❌ Multi-format output

The Insight That Changed Everything

After documentation sprint #37, I noticed something:

The information already exists.

Every component streams data. That data has:

  • Structure (protocols define formats)
  • Context (naming conventions, metadata)
  • Behavior patterns (time-series data)
  • Relationships (network topology)

We were manually translating machine-readable data into human-readable documents.

That's exactly what AI is good at.

What I'm Building

An AI service that understands industrial IoT protocols and generates:

📄 Technical Documentation

  • Extracts specs from CAN DBC, OPC UA NodeSets, MQTT topics
  • Generates consistent, accurate datasheets
  • Bulk processing (100+ components at once)
  • Multiple output formats

📚 Training Materials

  • Role-specific content (technician vs. engineer)
  • Different detail levels
  • Troubleshooting scenarios
  • Visual diagrams

🔬 Test Data

  • Physics-based synthetic data
  • Realistic sensor patterns
  • Edge cases and failures
  • Integration test scenarios

📋 Reusable Templates

  • System learns from your existing docs
  • Adapts to your terminology
  • Maintains your style
  • Improves with feedback

The Key Difference

Traditional approach:
Human → Manual writing → Document
Time: 2 hours per component

My approach:
IoT Data → AI Analysis → Generated Content → Human Review → Final Document
Time: 5 minutes per component

But here's the important part:

This isn't about replacing technical writers.

It's about letting them focus on:

  • ✅ Complex edge cases
  • ✅ Strategic content
  • ✅ Quality review
  • ✅ Customer-specific customization

Instead of:

  • ❌ Copy-pasting
  • ❌ Manual formatting
  • ❌ Repetitive updates
  • ❌ Bulk generation

Current Status

What works:

  • CAN bus, OPC UA, MQTT protocol parsing
  • Documentation generation for standard components
  • Basic template learning
  • Bulk processing

What I'm testing:

  • Validation accuracy (catching AI hallucinations)
  • Industry-specific terminology
  • Complex component relationships
  • Multi-language support

What I need:

  • Feedback from industrial IoT teams
  • Real-world test cases
  • Edge case discovery
  • Beta testers willing to be brutally honest

The Questions I'm Wrestling With

Technical:

  • How to validate AI-generated content for safety-critical components?
  • How to handle proprietary protocols?
  • How to balance automation vs. human oversight?

Business:

  • Is this a real problem or just mine?
  • Would companies pay for this?
  • What's the right pricing model?
  • SaaS vs. on-premise vs. hybrid?

Strategic:

  • Should I focus on one industry first?
  • Open-source the protocol parsers?
  • Build API-first or UI-first?

What I Need From You

If you work with Digital Twins, I'd love to know:

  1. Do you face this documentation scaling problem?

    • How many components are we talking about?
    • What's your current process?
    • What's your biggest pain point?

  2. How do you solve it today?

    • Manual documentation?
    • Templates?
    • Outsourcing?
    • Just... suffering?

  3. Would AI-assisted generation help?

    • What would make you trust it?
    • What features are must-haves?
    • What's your biggest concern?

  4. What am I missing?

    • What didn't I think of?
    • What would make this actually useful?
    • What would make you not use this?

What's Next

I'm looking for 10 beta testers for a focused pilot program:

What you get:

  • Free content generation for 100 components
  • 2× 1-hour strategy sessions (25 years experience included)
  • Custom templates for your industry
  • 50% permanent discount if you continue

What I need:

  • Access to sample IoT data (anonymized is fine)
  • Weekly 30-min feedback calls
  • Permission for anonymized case study
  • Brutal honesty about what doesn't work

Ideal beta tester:

  • Digital Twin project with 100-1,000 components
  • Automotive, manufacturing, building tech, or energy sector
  • Team willing to give honest, detailed feedback
  • Open to experimenting with AI workflows

Not a good fit:

  • "Just exploring" (I need committed teams)
  • Consumer IoT (different problem space)
  • Stealth mode (I need case studies for credibility)

Comment or DM if:

✅ You face this problem
✅ You've solved it differently (I want to learn!)
✅ You think this won't work (tell me why!)
✅ You want beta access
✅ You have questions

I'm here to learn. Skepticism welcome. 🙏

Follow for Updates

Next articles in this series:

Part 2: "The Technical Architecture - How AI Understands IoT Protocols"

  • Protocol parsing strategies
  • Validation pipelines
  • Handling edge cases
  • Without revealing prompts

Part 3: "Lessons from 25 Years of Industrial Testing"

  • Pre-production testing insights
  • Common failure patterns
  • Test data generation strategies
  • What makes good technical documentation

Part 4: "Beta Results and Learnings"

  • Real-world case studies
  • What worked, what didn't
  • Unexpected challenges
  • Industry-specific insights

Follow me here on dev.to for updates.

Have you faced this documentation scaling problem? How are you solving it? Comment below - I read everything. 👇

digitaltwin #iot #industrial #automation #ai #testing #documentation

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