8/13/2024

Reverse Engineering: Introduction

Radha Raman Mishra, Ph. D.

Course Instructor & Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Engineering

Process of designing, manufacturing, assembling, and maintaining products and

systems.

Engineering

Forward Engineering (FE) Reverse Engineering (RE)

It is the traditional process of The process of duplicating an existing

moving from high-level abstractions part, subassembly, or product,
and logical designs to the physical without drawings, documentation, or
implementation of a system. a computer model
2
Wego Wang, Reverse Engineering Technology of Reinvention, CRC Press, 2011.

1
 8/13/2024

Generic product development process

The sequence of steps or activities that an enterprise employs to

• Conceive,
• Design, and
• Commercialize a product.

3
K T Ulrich and S D Eppinger, “Product Design and Development”, 5th edition, MaGraw-Hill Companies, 2012.

Characteristics of successful product development

Five specific dimensions –

• Product quality

• Product cost

• Development time

• Development cost

• Development capability

4
K T Ulrich and S D Eppinger, “Product Design and Development”, 5th edition, MaGraw-Hill Companies, 2012.

2
 8/13/2024

Economy of successful product

Minimum C and t
values are desirable
t

Typical cash flow for new successful product

5
K T Ulrich and S D Eppinger, “Product Design and Development”, 5th edition, MaGraw-Hill Companies, 2012.

Market competition of products

?? Challenging
Maturity (A)
Maturity (B)

Product A
Decline (A) Decline (B)
Sales Volume

Growth (A) Growth (B)

Product B
RE helps to
Introduction
(A) overcome
Introduction (B) challenges

O
Time
Life cycle of the successful products
6
K T Ulrich and S D Eppinger, “Product Design and Development”, 5th edition, MaGraw-Hill Companies, 2012.

3
 8/13/2024

RE (Definitions)

The practice of reverse engineering “The process of duplicating an item

“Starting with a finished product or functionally and dimensionally by
process and working backward in physically examining and measuring
logical fashion to discover the existing parts to develop the
underlying new technology” technical data (physical and material
characteristics) required for
competitive procurement”

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers The Military Handbook MILHDBK-115A

(SME) (2006)

7
Wego Wang, Reverse Engineering Technology of Reinvention, CRC Press, 2011.

Abstractions levels in FE & RE

Software program development

Fig. Relationship between different terms

E J Chikofsky and J. H. Cross II, “Reverse Engineering and Design Recovery: A Taxonomy”, IEEE Sofwares, 1990. 8

4
 8/13/2024

FE vs RE

Parameters Forward Engineering Reverse Engineering

Based on product improvement

Basic Based on customer requirements
in existing product

Ideas about requirements from

Certainty Product to cater the needs
the product

Nature Prescriptive Adaptive

Needed skills High Proficiency Low level of expertise

Time required More Less

Accuracy Model must be precise and Incomplete models also provide

complete some information
9

Brief history of RE
The first model airplane developed by wright brothers in 1903 is one of the most
noticeable examples -

Movement of flying birds

The model plane of the Wright brothers

Reinvented a manmade “bird” by imitating the functionality of a flying creature in

nature using the concepts of reverse engineering concepts
Historical first flight on December 17, 1903.
10
Wego Wang, Reverse Engineering Technology of Reinvention, CRC Press, 2011.

10

5
 8/13/2024

Brief history of RE
World War II: B-29 Superfortress bomber Tupolev Tu-4 bomber (Soviet Union)
RE of Military Equipment
• US
• Soviet union
• Japan

The reverse-engineering effort involved –

• 900 factories & research institutes (1 year, design)
• 105,000 drawings were made
• 20 copies of the aircraft: by the end of 2nd year
11
Wego Wang, Reverse Engineering Technology of Reinvention, CRC Press, 2011.

11

Brief history of RE
Korean War: F-86 fighter MiG-15 fighter
RE of Military
Equipment

12
Wego Wang, Reverse Engineering Technology of Reinvention, CRC Press, 2011.

12

6
 8/13/2024

Brief history of RE
RE of human body parts

Artificial toes from Iron prosthetic, Gotz von

Ancient Egypt Berlichingen (1480-1562) Artificial Arm (1906)

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20151030-the-geniuses-who-invented-prosthetic-limbs 13

13

Brief history of RE
The aviation industry:

An unpaved airport in early A typical modern open-

days. (From the Henry Ford field, paved-runway airport. An early radial reciprocal aircraft engine
Museum)
• The maturity of the aviation industry (a technology-driven to an economic-driven
business)
• The market demands the least expensive certificated spare parts
This shift provided a potential market for reverse engineering
14

14

7
 8/13/2024

Primary functions of RE

1) To duplicate or produce original equipment manufacturer (OEM)

parts whose design data are not available

2) To repair or replace worn-out parts without knowledge of the

original design data, and

3) To generate a model or prototype based on an existing part for

analysis

15

15

RE process

Develop new design

Modifications in
existing design
Geometric Segmentation
Processing of CAD model
information and surface
point cloud generation
Collection fitting
Cloning /
reproduction

Inspection /
verification
Transformation from
physical to digital world Interface with other manufacturing process Major applications
Zhaohui Geng & Bopaya Bidanda (2017) Review of reverse engineering systems – current state of the art, Virtual and Physical Prototyping, 12:2, 161-172. 16

16

8
 8/13/2024

RE: product development cycle

Product development cycle

17
V Raja, KJ Fernandes, “Reverse Engineering: An Industrial Perspective”, Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing, Springer-Verlag London Limited, UK, 2008.

17

RE: Product development cycle

In Reverse engineering –

• Physical model is the

source of information for
the CAD model (physical-
to-digital process)

• Compresses product
development cycle time to
Physical-to-digital process
shorten lead time to
market a new product

18
V Raja, KJ Fernandes, “Reverse Engineering: An Industrial Perspective”, Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing, Springer-Verlag London Limited, UK, 2008.

18

9
 8/13/2024

Need
Following are some of the reasons for using reverse engineering:

• The original manufacturer no longer exists, but a customer needs the product

• The original manufacturer of a product no longer produces the product

• The original product design documentation has been lost or never existed
• Creating data to refurbish or manufacture a part for which –
 there are no CAD data, or
 the data have become obsolete or lost
• Inspection and/or Quality Control–Comparing a fabricated part to its CAD
description or to a standard item

19
V Raja, KJ Fernandes, “Reverse Engineering: An Industrial Perspective”, Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing, Springer-Verlag London Limited, UK, 2008.

19

Need
• Some bad features of a product need to be eliminated e.g., excessive wear might
indicate where a product should be improved

• Strengthening the good features of a product based on long-term usage

• Analyzing the good and bad features of competitors’ products

• Exploring new avenues to improve product performance and features

• Creating 3-D data from a model or sculpture for animation in games and movies

20
V Raja, KJ Fernandes, “Reverse Engineering: An Industrial Perspective”, Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing, Springer-Verlag London Limited, UK, 2008.

20

10
 8/13/2024

Need
• Creating 3-D data from an individual, model or sculpture to create, scale, or
reproduce artwork

• Architectural and construction documentation and measurement

• Fitting clothing or footwear to individuals and determining the anthropometry of a

population

• Generating data to create dental or surgical prosthetics, tissue engineered body

parts, or for surgical planning.

• Documentation and reproduction of crime scenes

21
V Raja, KJ Fernandes, “Reverse Engineering: An Industrial Perspective”, Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing, Springer-Verlag London Limited, UK, 2008.

21

Advantages
• Provides enormous opportunities to improve –
 quality,
materials properties,
efficiency of re-design,
manufacture and
Analysis

• Applied to re-create either the high-value commercial parts for business profits or
the valueless legacy parts for historical restoration

• Proactive maintenance

• Lead time reduction

• Promotes innovation activities

22

22

11
 8/13/2024

Limitations

• Legal ramifications if don’t follow copyright and patent laws

• Selection of component or product for RE

• Knowledge of software to develop CAD model

• Sophisticated equipment for digitization

• Need of advanced computer-based manufacturing processes

23

23

Applications

24

24

12
 8/13/2024

Software and information technology

BIOS (basic input/output system)

Product and process improvement

• To improve their own code or
• To improve interoperability between
programs Microprocessor chips

Intel Corp Advanced Micro Cyrix Corp

Devices Inc
Cyber security
• Viruses and other malware Intelligence and Espionage
• Flows in software • Spying
• Protection against hackers • Information for security of country
• Save systems from cyber attacks 25

25

Forensic science
• Identification of reasons for damage in the products
• Data recovery from the electronic devices
• Malware identification and safety
• Investigations of crime
A loaded 33-foot-long container

A split in the end panel was observed.

Mechanical Engineer: the riveted seam between the two end panels in the side of the
container had split open from bottom to top.
Forensic reverse engineers: microscopic examination: no internal fault, wear, or
corrosion, investigators found.
Reason: overloading on neighboring rivets if one rivet near the end of a seam failed
Hardness test: rivets were well below the strength indicated on the drawing.
Manufacturing defect: rivets were set without being first solution treated
Lewis, Peter Rhys; Reynolds, Ken; Gagg, Colin, Forensic Materials Engineering: Case Studies, CRC Press, 2003. 26

26

13
 8/13/2024

Medical systems

Design / Re-creation of Parts

High Resolution & Detailed Scans

Rapid Capture of Complex Shaped Components

Digital Assembly Analysis
27
https://www.capture3d.com/

27

Architecture and civil engineering

Livio De Lucaa, Philippe Veronb,, Michel Florenzanoa, Reverse engineering of architectural buildings based on a hybrid modeling approach, Computers & Graphics
30 (2006) 160–176. 28

28

14
 8/13/2024

Shipbuilding

Symmetry analysis of a towing tank ship Nave Argo and its screws shapes of a sailing boat.
model

F. Menna, E. Nocerino, A. Scamardella, Reverse Engineering And 3d Modelling For Digital Documentation Of Maritime Heritage, Volume XXXVIII-5/W16, 2011 ISPRS
29
Trento 2011 Workshop, 2-4 March 2011, Trento, Italy

29

Aviation industry

• Outside contour development

• Parts reproduction lacking dimensional drawings
• Quality control
• Damage assessment Mode development

• Aircraft dimensional tolerance and straightness

• Part reproduction
• Propeller blade inspection
• Corrosion inspection

CFD/FEA Analysis
Wing Analysis 30
https://www.capture3d.com/

30

15
 8/13/2024

Automobile industry

Digital Model
Clay Model Iterations Competitive Benchmarking

CFD Analysis Accident Investigation

31
https://www.capture3d.com/

31

Thank you
[email protected]

32

32

16