REVERSE ENGINEERING OF MECHANICAL DEVICES G. TENSINGH RAJA MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, SALEM-11. gtrv@reddifmail.

com ABSTRACT: Whether it's rebuilding a car engine or diagramming a sentence, people can learn about many things simply by taking them apart and putting them back together again. That, in a nutshell, is the concept behind reverse-engineeringbreaking something down in order to understand it, build a copy or improve it. As computer-aided design has become more popular, reverse engineering has become a viable method to create a 3D virtual model of an existing physical part for use in 3D CAD [computer-aided design], CAM, CAE and other software. The reverse-engineering process involves measuring an object and then reconstructing it as a 3D model With the ever-increasing popularity of CAD, reverse engineering has proven to be a blessing for creation of 3D virtual model of the on hand physical part to be used in 3D CAE, CAM, CAD and many other soft wares. The measuring of physical object can be done by making use of 3D scanning technologies such as computed tomography, structured light digitizers, laser scanners, and C MMs. The data that is measured usually gets represented as point cloud. It is devoid of topological information. Thats why, the processing and modeling takes place into usable format like a triangular faced mesh, CAD model, or a collection of surfaces of NURBS. Applications such as Polyworks, Image ware, Geomagic, or Rapid form are used for processing the point clouds into the formats that can be used in applications like 3D CAE, CAM, CAD or visualization.

Introduction The term "reverse engineering" includes any activity you do to determine how a product works, or to learn the ideas and technology that were originally used to develop the product. Reverse engineering is a systematic approach for analyzing the design of existing devices or systems. To be more precise, reverse engineering (RE) is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation. It often involves taking something (e.g., a mechanical device, electronic component, or software program) apart and analyzing its workings in detail to be used in maintenance or to try to make a new device or program that does the same thing without copying anything from the original.

FORWARD ENGINEERING ENGINEERING ;

V/S

REVERSE

The most traditional method of the development of a technology is referred to as "forward engineering." In the construction of a technology, manufacturers develop a product by implementing engineering concepts and abstractions. By contrast, reverse engineering begins with final product, and works backward to recreate the engineering concepts by analyzing the design of the system and the interrelationships of its components.

TYPES OF RE : Black Box RE : In "black box" reverse engineering, systems are observed without examining internal structure White Box RE : Here, the internal parts of the object that is being reverse engineered is examined carefully.

REASONS FOR RE : Lost documentation:

Reverse engineering often is done because the documentation of a particular device has been lost (or was never written), and the person who built it is no longer available. Integrated circuits often seem to have been designed on obsolete, proprietary systems, which means that the only way to incorporate the functionality into new technology is to reverse-engineer the existing chip and then re-design it. Product analysis. To examine how a product works, what components it Consists of, estimate costs, and identify potential patent infringement. Creation duplicates. of unlicensed/unapproved

dimensional data. They range from mechanical and very slow, to radiation-based and highlyautomated. Each technology has its advantages and disadvantages, and their applications and specifications overlap. What eventually comes out of each of these data collection devices, however, is a description of the physical object in three-dimensional space called a point cloud. Point cloud data typically define numerous points on the surface of the object in terms of x, y, and z coordinates. At each x, y, z coordinate in the data where there is a point, there is a surface coordinate of the original object. However, some scanners, such as those based on X-rays, can see inside an object. In that case, the point cloud also defines interior locations of the object, and may also describe its density. There is usually far too much data in the point cloud collected from the scanner or digitizer, and some of it may be unwanted noise. Without further processing, the data isnt in a form that can be used by downstream applications such as CAD/CAM software or in rapid prototyping. Reverse engineering software is used to edit the point cloud data, establish the interconnectedness of the points in the cloud, and translate it into useful formats such as surface models or STL files. It also allows several different scans of an object to be melded together so that the data describing the object can be defined completely from all sides and directions. Usually, the shortest part of any RE task is scanning or data collection. While there are exceptions, scanning might only require a few seconds or a few minutes. On the other hand, manipulating the data can be quite time consuming and labor-intensive. It may even require days to complete this part of the job. The situation is analogous to scanning twodimensional printed or photographic materials. It doesnt usually take very long to scan a picture or a diagram - but getting that picture into a presentable form can be quite a lot of work, indeed.

Academic/learning purposes. Curiosity Competitive technical intelligence (understand what your competitor is Actually doing versus what they say they are doing). REVERSE ENGINEERING OF MECHANICAL DEVICES : RE of mechanical devices mainly involves measuring an object and then reconstructing it as a 3D model. It is also used to analyze how a product works, what it does, and what components it consists of, estimate costs, and identify potential patent infringement, etc

REVERSE ENGINEERING PROCESS As computer-aided design has become more popular, reverse engineering has become a viable method to create a 3D virtual model of an existing physical part for use in 3D CAD, CAM, CAE and other software. The reverse engineering process involves measuring an object and then reconstructing it as a 3D model. The physical object can be measured using 3D scanning technologies like CMMs, laser scanners, structured light digitizers or computed tomography. The measured data alone, usually represented as a point cloud, lacks topological information and is therefore often processed and modeled into a more usable format such as a triangular-faced mesh, a set of NURBS surfaces or a CAD model. There are two parts to any reverse engineering application: scanning and data manipulation. Scanning, also called digitizing, is the process of gathering the requisite data from an object. Many different technologies are used to collect three

COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN (CAD) : Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is the use of computer technology to aid in the design and particularly the drafting (technical drawing and engineering drawing) of a part or product, including entire buildings. It is both a visual (or drawing) and symbol-based method of communication whose conventions are particular to a specific technical field. CAD is used in the design of tools and machinery and in the drafting and design of all types of buildings, from small residential types (houses) to the largest commercial and industrial structures (hospitals and factories). CAD is mainly used for detailed engineering of 3D models and/or 2D drawings of physical components, but it is also used throughout the engineering process from conceptual design and layout of products, through strength and dynamic analysis of assemblies to definition of manufacturing methods of components. CAD has become an especially important technology within the scope of computer-aided technologies, with benefits such as lower product development costs and a greatly shortened design cycle. CAD enables designers to lay out and develop work on screen, print it out and save it for future editing, saving time on their drawings. NURBS SURFACES : COORDINATE MEASURING MACHINE (CMM) : A 'coordinate measuring machine' (CMM) is a device for measuring the physical geometrical characteristics of an object. This machine may be manually controlled by an operator or it may be computer controlled. Measurements are defined by a probe attached to the third moving axis of this machine. Probes may be mechanical, optical, laser, or white light, among others. The typical CMM is composed of three axes, an X, Y and Z. These axes are orthogonal to each other in a typical three dimensional coordinate system. Each axis has a scale system that indicates the location of that axis. The machine will read the input from the probe, as directed by the operator or programmer. The machine then uses the X,Y,Z coordinates of each of these points to determine size and position. A coordinate measuring machine (CMM) is also a device used in manufacturing and assembly processes to test a part or assembly against the design intent. By precisely recording the X, Y, and Z coordinates of the target, points are generated which can then be analyzed via regression algorithms for the construction of features. These points are collected by using a probe that is positioned manually by an operator or automatically via Direct Computer Control (DCC). Non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) is a mathematical model commonly used in computer graphics for generating and representing curves and surfaces. NURBS are nearly ubiquitous for computeraided design (CAD), manufacturing (CAM), and engineering (CAE) and are part of numerous industry wide used standards, such as IGES, STEP, ACIS, and PHIGS. NURBS tools are also found in various 3D modeling and animation software packages, such as form-Z, Maya and Rhino3D. COMPUTER AIDED MANUFACTURING (CAM) : Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) is the use of computer-based software tools that assist engineers and machinists in manufacturing or prototyping product components. CAM is a programming tool that makes it possible to manufacture physical models using computeraided design (CAD) programs. CAM creates real life versions of components designed within a software package. CAM was first used in 1971 for car body design and tooling. Traditionally, CAM has been considered as a numerical control (NC) programming tool wherein three-dimensional (3D) models of components generated in CAD software are used to generate CNC code to drive numerically controlled machine tools.

Although this remains the most common CAM function, CAM functions have expanded to integrate CAM more fully with CAD/CAE PLM solutions. As with other Computer-Aided technologies, CAM does not eliminate the need for skilled professionals such as Manufacturing Engineers and NC Programmers. CAM, in fact, both leverages the value of the most skilled manufacturing professionals through advanced productivity tools, while building the skills of new professionals through visualization, simulation and optimization tools. RAPID PROTOTYPING : Rapid prototyping is the automatic construction of physical objects using solid freeform fabrication. The first techniques for rapid prototyping became available in the late 1980s and were used to produce models and prototype parts. Today, they are used for a much wider range of applications and are even used to manufacture production quality parts in relatively small numbers. REVERSE ENGINEERING SERVICES PRODUCT REVERSE ENGINEERS: A wide range of Reverse Engineering is the process of extracting the technical information from existing products. India is an established outsourcing hub of reverse engineering services. Mechanical engineering drawings is a leading outsourcing services provider of customized reverse engineering services in the mechanical industry. Reverse Engineering Services for a variety of mechanical components like plastics, aluminum, sheet metal, rubber, brass, die casting etc are provided by us. Mechanical engineering services with a lot of observation to the details are proffered. We use image ware and I-DEAS software for 3D reverse engineering

Reverse engineering can be availed for any types of components such as: Plastics Rubber Brass Aluminum Sheet Metal Die Casting

Reverse engineering (RE) Services is the process of taking impressive (a device, component, an electrical component, a software program, etc.) separately and evaluating its workings or geometry in detail, usually with the intention to build a new device, component or program that does the same thing without actually copying anything from the original.

Advantages with us: Get a comprehensive insight into competitor's products Analyze products and parts in detail to develop most efficient development plan Enhance agility of organization towards market trends & consumer needs Increase focus on product feature enhancement Minimize time-to-market with faster testing of prototypes and optimized development process

Most of Reverse Engineering Software or hardware systems for the functions of interoperability, for example in order to sustain undocumented file formats or hardware peripherals, is mostly believed to be legal, though patent owners often aggressively pursue their patents. Coordinate measuring machines (CMM) can be used to digitize a component and the information can be utilized in computer-aided modeling. New and improved technologies in reverse engineering include 3D laser scanning that, as the name implies, uses laser beams to scan across the surface of components of any shape and demonstrate the results in real time. At Mechanical Engineering Drawings, we offer a reverse engineering service to generate digital design data from both previously manufactured parts and conventional mechanical engineering drawings. To supplement this service, we have strong links with companies that offer expert industrial measurement services. Save 40% to 60% project cost on your reverse engineering requirements. USES OF REVERSE ENGINEERING : Understanding how a product works more comprehensively than by merely observing it. Investigating and correcting errors and limitations in existing programs. Studying the design principles of a product as part of an education in engineering.

Worn or broken components for which there is no source of supply For base model geometry to edit and tailor for improved functionality or new application Design of parts and assemblies, tooling and jigs.

LIMITATIONS OF RE : RE cannot be applied to all equipments Modifications, dependent on point clouds are limited in certain cases Processes involved are costly FUTURE OF RE: Widely used in mechatronics and robotics Used in dental applications In the medical field, mostly for surgical implants In production sector including automobile industry.

Conclusion: All software is made up of machine-readable code. In fact, code is what makes every program function the way it does. The code defines the software and the decisions it will make. Reverse engineering, as applied to software, is the process of looking for patterns in this code. By identifying certain code patterns, an attacker can locate potential software vulnerabilities. This chapter has exposed you to the basic concepts and methods of decompilation, all in the name of better understanding how a program really works. We've even gone so far as to provide some rudimentary (yet still powerful) tools as examples. Using these methods and tools, you can learn almost anything you need to know about a target, and then use this information to exploit it.

Transforming obsolete products into useful ones by adapting them to new systems and platforms. APPLICATIONS OF RE : Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) unable or unwilling to provide replacement parts Prototypes with no models/drawings