Mixed Reality-Enhanced Digital Twin for Adaptive Photovoltaic Shutter Operation: A Pilot Study

Adaptive Photovoltaic Shutter (APS) is an innovative shading device that integrates photovoltaic materials into its slats, enabling it to convert sunlight into electricity while adaptively adjusting frame and slat angles to optimize multiple performance objectives. Due to the complexity of its mechanical system and operation, an advanced digital twin (DT) is essential for effective monitoring and control. Current research integrates mixed reality (MR) with DT to provide a more immersive and intuitive management experience. An Arduino-based IoT system collects real-time data from the APS, uploads it to the cloud, and enables visualization through a MR application. Within the MR interface, users can observe the status of the physical APS and control it by interacting with its digital counterpart. A survey was conducted to evaluate the DT's usability and user engagement. The results suggest that the MR-DT can enhance user engagement and support anomaly detection tasks, although it is associated with longer task initiation time and perceived interaction latency. These findings highlight both the potential and limitations of MR-enhanced DT in APS operation.