Synchronization Software for Digital Twin Control Systems

Emerson has introduced the Ovation Curation Tool, a synchronization software solution for power and water control systems and their digital twins. The software automates version control, change tracking, and deployment between production systems and simulation environments to support engineering workflows and improve the management of digital twin applications.

Synchronizing Control Systems and Digital Twins
Digital twins are widely used in power generation and water treatment facilities for operator training, testing new control strategies, and validating system modifications. One of the primary challenges is maintaining alignment between simulation environments and live control systems. As production systems evolve through operational updates and engineering changes, simulation models can gradually diverge, reducing the accuracy of testing and training.

The Ovation Curation Tool automates the management of configuration changes between multiple Ovation control systems and digital twins. By maintaining synchronization between production and simulation environments, the software helps improve testing accuracy while reducing engineering effort and minimizing configuration errors.

Automated Version Control and Change Tracking
The software can be scheduled to run at user-defined intervals, including weekly, monthly, or on demand, to automatically identify and document modifications made to control systems. An integrated dashboard provides a complete audit history, showing what changed, who made each modification, and when it occurred.

This automated audit trail eliminates the need for manual configuration comparisons while supporting governance requirements for critical infrastructure. The documented change history also reduces the risk of undocumented or unintended system modifications.

Deployment and Impact Analysis
After changes have been validated, users can automatically synchronize configurations between production systems and digital twins or across multiple Ovation control systems. Before deployment, an impact analysis function evaluates simulation snapshots to identify potential conflicts or disruptions on the target system and recommends corrective actions.

The software uses a repository-based architecture to transfer and synchronize data between production systems and simulators while maintaining version consistency. Multiple users can work on the same engineering assets simultaneously and merge their changes within the repository.

Rick Kephart, Vice President of Technology for Emerson's Power & Water business, said maintaining synchronization between digital twins and live control systems has become increasingly important as the shortage of experienced engineering personnel continues to grow. He noted that the software is intended to keep simulation models current throughout the plant lifecycle, supporting operator training, engineering validation, testing, and operational forecasting.

Presentation at Ovation Users Group Conference 2026
Emerson will demonstrate the Ovation Curation Tool at the Ovation Users Group Conference 2026, taking place from July 26 to July 30, 2026, in Pittsburgh.

Additional Context: This section details technical specifications and competitive benchmarking not included in the original product announcement.
Version control and synchronization have become essential capabilities for digital twin deployments in power generation and water infrastructure. Unlike conventional backup or configuration management tools, the Ovation Curation Tool combines automated change tracking, version history, repository-based synchronization, and pre-deployment impact analysis within a single platform.

Comparable capabilities are available in digital twin and distributed control system platforms such as ABB Ability System 800xA, Siemens SPPA-T3000, and Honeywell Experion PKS. These solutions also support configuration management and simulation environments, but they differ in their level of integration, change management workflows, and automated synchronization between production and simulation systems. Emerson differentiates the Ovation Curation Tool through its repository-based multi-user change merging, comprehensive audit history, automated synchronization workflows, and integrated impact analysis before deployment.

Edited by Sucithra Mani, Induportals editor – adapted by AI.

www.emerson.com