Complex and computationally intensive simulation models are used to generate a complete digital twin, which makes it very difficult to use in industrial practice. With the "Quasim" research project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen and its consortium partners are pursuing the goal of accelerating production simulations using various algorithms and technologies of computationally efficient quantum computing, thereby reducing the hurdles for industrial use.

High-performance machining is an important technology for the production of high-tech components in industries such as engine construction, the semiconductor industry and medical technology. Despite the high efficiency of modern machining processes, product costs often amount to several thousand to hundreds of thousands of euros, depending on the component. A significant proportion of these costs are incurred during time-consuming and cost-intensive production start-ups as well as due to quality defects and rejects during ongoing production.

Process design, optimization and monitoring based on a digital twin is therefore becoming increasingly important. Digital twins are virtual, data-based representations of the components and the production environment. The creation of a complete digital twin requires the use of sophisticated numerical simulation models and machine learning algorithms. Although the models precisely depict the manufacturing process and its effects on the component, their execution is so computationally intensive that real-life application in industry is still a long way off. Many companies lack a correspondingly powerful digital infrastructure.

Quantum computing accelerates the creation of digital twins

The research project "Quasim - Quantum Computing Enhanced Service Ecosystem for Simulation in Manufacturing" combines quantum computing (QC) and the metalworking industry for the first time: the aim of the project partners is to develop and test quantum computing solutions in manufacturing, for example for machining processes. They want to find out to what extent QC support can accelerate the creation of a digital twin in machining and thus improve the quality of results.

Calculation of complex models on quantum computer hardware

The Fraunhofer IPT has acquired extensive expertise in the field of digital twins, which is also reflected in dPart, a framework developed at the Fraunhofer IPT for digital twins in machining. The framework is constantly being expanded in the course of numerous research and development projects and will also be used in the Quasim project. Among other things, complex models and algorithms from numerics and machine learning are used to create the digital twins, which can be used to dynamically simulate and visualize forces and process vibrations, for example.

In order to accelerate the complex calculations, the dPart software platform is being expanded to include a so-called "Quantum-as-a-Service" (QaaS) component: for critical simulations, the dPart framework accesses a QaaS back-end to increase computing efficiency. The project partners can use real QC hardware for their research work: both the QC infrastructure that has just been put into operation at Forschungszentrum Jülich and the "IBM Q System One" at the Baden-Württemberg Quantum Computing Competence Center. The QaaS-supported software for creating the digital twin will be transferred to industrial practice and tested there. Subsequently, a transfer of the results in the form of know-how licensing is planned.

Promotion

The "Quasim" research project is funded as part of the "Quantum Computing - Applications for the Economy" funding program, a program of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK). The program serves to promote research, development and innovation projects that prove and demonstrate the technical feasibility, viability and usefulness of quantum computing using the example of relevant, practical applications. The project will run for 36 months.