Azure Digital Twins | Azure Iot | Azurecloud Tutorial

Introduction

Azure Digital Twins is a comprehensive IoT platform that enables you to create digital models of real-world environments. It allows you to model the relationships and interactions between people, spaces, and devices. This tutorial will guide you through the basics of Azure Digital Twins, from setting up your environment to creating and querying digital twins.

Setting Up Your Environment

Before you can start using Azure Digital Twins, you need to set up your environment. This includes creating an Azure account, setting up a resource group, and creating an Azure Digital Twins instance.

Creating an Azure Account

If you don't already have an Azure account, you can create one for free at the Azure Free Account page.

Creating a Resource Group

Resource groups in Azure are logical containers for resources. To create a resource group, follow these steps:

az group create --name MyResourceGroup --location eastus

Creating an Azure Digital Twins Instance

Next, create an Azure Digital Twins instance using the following command:

az dt create --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyDigitalTwinsInstance --location eastus

Creating Models

Models in Azure Digital Twins define the structure of your digital twins. They are written in Digital Twins Definition Language (DTDL). Here is an example of a simple model:

{
  "@id": "dtmi:example:Room;1",
  "@type": "Interface",
  "displayName": "Room",
  "contents": [
    {
      "@type": "Property",
      "name": "Temperature",
      "schema": "double"
    },
    {
      "@type": "Property",
      "name": "Humidity",
      "schema": "double"
    }
  ]
}

Save this model to a file named RoomModel.json and upload it to your Azure Digital Twins instance using the following command:

az dt model create --dt-name MyDigitalTwinsInstance --models RoomModel.json

Creating Digital Twins

Once you have defined your models, you can create digital twins. Here is an example of creating a digital twin using the model we defined earlier:

az dt twin create --dt-name MyDigitalTwinsInstance --twin-id myRoom --model-id dtmi:example:Room;1

Querying Digital Twins

You can query digital twins using the Azure Digital Twins Query Language (ADQL). Here is an example of a query that retrieves all digital twins of type "Room":

az dt query --dt-name MyDigitalTwinsInstance --query "SELECT * FROM digitaltwins WHERE IS_OF_MODEL('dtmi:example:Room;1')"

{
  "twinId": "myRoom",
  "$metadata": {
    "$model": "dtmi:example:Room;1"
  },
  "Temperature": null,
  "Humidity": null
}

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you have learned the basics of Azure Digital Twins, including setting up your environment, creating models, creating digital twins, and querying digital twins. Azure Digital Twins is a powerful platform that can help you create comprehensive digital models of real-world environments. With this knowledge, you can start building your own digital twin solutions.

Azure Digital Twins Tutorial