KAUST Spin-Off · City-Scale Digital Twins
City-scale digital twins that don't just visualize — they simulate, predict, and control. From citizen behavior to energy grids to emergency response.
Cities:OS is a KAUST spin-off that pioneered a radical approach: take the world's most advanced city-building game engines and convert them into an enterprise-grade simulation platform. The result is a digital twin that combines the visual fidelity of gaming with the rigor of physics-based engineering.
Our platform doesn't stop at observation. Through City-in-the-Loop architecture, real-world IoT sensors feed directly into the live simulation while distributed edge controllers push optimized decisions back — creating a continuous feedback loop between the physical city and its digital counterpart.
From analytics and AI to predictive control — one platform, city scale.
Our digital twins are not renderings — they are simulation environments backed by physics, populated by intelligent agents, and powered by game engine technology.
Every citizen is an agent with education, age, wealth, health, and employment attributes — creating realistic emergent urban behavior at city scale.
Modular physics engines plug into the simulation via the FMI standard — compatible with 100+ modeling tools. Our City-in-the-Loop architecture connects real-world IoT sensors and physics solvers directly into the live twin.
Deep learning pipelines for fault detection, anomaly recognition, and real-time monitoring — deployed at scale with IoT edge computing.
On-site LiDAR scanning and photogrammetry reconstructed into Unreal Engine 5 — delivered on desktop, VR headsets, touch tables, and web via Pixel Streaming.
Integrated applications that cover mobility, resilience, sustainability, autonomous control, and airspace management.
AI-driven transport simulation with behavioral population models. Evaluate traffic flow, public transit, and CO₂ emissions per trip — validated against real-world data with peer-reviewed accuracy.
Physics-based disaster simulation and evacuation planning. Model multi-hazard scenarios, optimize evacuation routes, and predict population behavior under emergency conditions.
City-scale sustainability reporting aligned with UN SDGs. Map electricity consumption, calculate CO₂ footprints across transport and buildings, and benchmark regions against validated methodologies.
Closed-loop model predictive control where the digital twin anticipates and optimizes city systems in real time. Distributed IoT edge controllers execute decisions autonomously with encrypted mesh communication and fault-tolerant architecture.
Volumetric airspace management for urban drone operations. 3D geofencing, detect-and-avoid collision prevention, signal strength monitoring, and optimal route planning that accounts for terrain, buildings, and airspace restrictions.
From territory-scale energy grids to heritage site preservation — our digital twins solve real infrastructure challenges.
Generative tower designs placed on a geo-accurate terrain replica — drag to compare design variants
Original tower designs by Choi+Shine Architects
25,000+ km² · Greenfield Development
Complete electrical grid digital twin — transmission lines, solar farms, wind turbines, substations — all generated from GIS data and projected onto real terrain. Side-by-side scenario comparison for overhead vs. underground cabling with a year-by-year construction timeline.
Landmark Complex · Interior & Exterior
Full-scale LiDAR capture and photorealistic reconstruction of a world-renowned heritage site. Delivered as an interactive Unreal Engine 5 experience on desktop, VR, and touch tables — with 50,000+ agent crowd simulation and emergency evacuation modeling.
University Campus · 10,000 Inhabitants
Full campus replica with agent-based population model, validated transport simulation, underground infrastructure mapping, and scenario comparison for transit alternatives — tram vs. bus line impact analysis with real consumption data.
Photorealistic Capture · In-Browser Tours
We turn 3D Gaussian Splat captures into interactive web tours — complete with embedded video screens that bring lab equipment to life, and dynamic A* pathfinding that walks visitors smoothly between points of interest.
Crowd Safety · Capacity Planning · Evacuation
Where will people pile up? Where do exits clog? Does your evacuation plan actually work?
Open a link in your browser and watch thousands of virtual people move through a 3D scan of your real space — your stadium, your station, your mosque, your mall. See bottlenecks form before anyone gets hurt. Test what happens if you close a corridor, add a sign, or move an exit.
Virtual Commissioning · Operator Training · PLC Validation
Your new CNC arrives in eight weeks. Your operators need training in two. Your PLC team needs to debug the program before the install window closes.
Drop the machine into a 3D scan of your real factory — the actual aisles, the actual columns, the actual fork-lift paths. Drive it. Crash it. Re-program it. Train your operators on it. All before the truck pulls up.
100,000+ Modules · 4M Images Analyzed
Deep learning fault detection for large-scale PV plants using drone-based aerial imaging. RGB and infrared thermal captures are analyzed by our AI pipeline — ResNet-50 and Mask R-CNN models achieve 99% anomaly detection accuracy, targeting a 100x cost reduction in operations and maintenance through Hardware-in-the-Loop physics integration.
Trusted by industry leaders and research institutions
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Whether you need to simulate a transport network, monitor a solar farm, or control a city grid in real time — let's talk.
Houston, TX
11111 Richmond Ave, Ste 242
Houston, Texas 77082
+1.713.370.0422
KAUST, Saudi Arabia
Research & Technology Park
P.O. Box 4700, 23955-6900
+966.544.700.306