Twin-in-the-Loop Control

When the digital twin runs inside the control loop, the plant can be steered by predicting the next state before it happens.

In brief

• The twin predicts the plasma's response to candidate actuator moves.
• A model-predictive controller picks the move that keeps the plasma in its safe envelope.
• Requires surrogates fast enough to evaluate many futures per control step.
• The architecture Kronos targets for disruption-free operation.

The detail

Classic controllers react to what already went wrong. A twin-in-the-loop controller simulates the immediate future under several candidate actions and chooses the best — model-predictive control powered by a fast twin. The enabling ingredient is surrogate models that run millions of times faster than first-principles physics, so many futures can be evaluated inside a single control step.