BlueGrid AquaTwin · Built on BlueGrid

The digital twin for aquatic ecosystems.

BlueGrid AquaTwin is Nyun's real-time simulation platform for rivers, reservoirs and coastal reaches — built natively on BlueGrid. It pairs every physical waterway with a continuously-updated virtual replica: coupled hydrodynamic, water-quality and fish bioenergetics models running live against autonomous field sensor data.

What it is

BlueGrid is the platform.
AquaTwin is the twin that runs on it.

Where BlueGrid is the intelligence layer — data ingestion, modelling, decision support and regulatory reporting — AquaTwin is the high-fidelity simulation product that uses BlueGrid's infrastructure to build and maintain a real-time virtual replica of a specific waterway. AquaTwin adds the autonomous field sensing layer and the twin simulation engine that makes real-time survival prediction possible.

Digital Twin Simulation

The AquaTwin architecture

AquaTwin is structured as two tightly integrated components running on BlueGrid's data and model infrastructure:

Physical sensing layer — autonomous UAVs, USVs, eDNA samplers and fixed sensor arrays that deliver near-continuous field data from the waterway
Twin simulation engine — coupled hydrodynamic, water-quality, TDG and fish bioenergetics models that consume the sensing layer's data and maintain a continuously-synchronised virtual replica of the physical system
BlueGrid integration — all AquaTwin data flows into BlueGrid's Unified Data Layer; the twin's state is accessible through BlueGrid's scenario engine, compliance reporting and co-management dashboards

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BlueGrid AquaTwin

Physical → Digital → Decision

Physical sensing layer

Four asset types. One continuous monitoring layer.

AquaTwin's autonomous field assets address the documented collapse in BC salmon monitoring — a 50% decline since the 1980s — delivering the continuous, high-frequency data the twin simulation requires.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

Fixed-wing and multi-rotor drones for aerial fish counting, habitat classification, thermal imaging and spawning survey coverage. Operate autonomously on pre-programmed flight paths; imagery and counts stream directly into BlueGrid's data layer.

Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs)

Autonomous surface boats with sonar, water-quality sensors and cameras for in-water fish counting, habitat mapping and environmental data collection — operating on lakes and reservoirs without requiring crew deployment.

eDNA Samplers

Fixed and mobile environmental DNA systems that detect species presence, relative abundance and population genetics from water samples — continuous biological intelligence between physical survey events.

Fixed Sensor Arrays

In-water sensor networks measuring temperature, dissolved oxygen, TDG, turbidity and flow at key monitoring points. Continuous data streams that feed directly into AquaTwin's hydrodynamic and fish survival models.

Twin simulation engine

Physical system → virtual model → defensible decision.

Continuous sensing

AquaTwin field assets run autonomous missions delivering near-real-time biological and environmental data from the waterway — fish counts, water temperature, TDG, eDNA signatures, habitat imagery.

Data ingest via BlueGrid

All AquaTwin data streams into BlueGrid's Unified Data Layer alongside SCADA, regulatory records and TEK data — fused into one continuously-updated model of the system.

Twin simulation update

The coupled hydrodynamic, water-quality and fish bioenergetics models update their state with every new sensor reading — maintaining synchronisation between the physical waterway and the virtual replica.

Scenario and decision output

BlueGrid's scenario engine uses the twin's live state to test operating decisions, generate survival predictions, and produce the regulatory reporting outputs required by the Comptroller of Water Rights, DFO and conservation program.