Module 1

1. What is Reverse Engineering. Mention its potential applications

The process of duplicating an existing part, subassembly, or product, without drawings,
documentation, or a computer model is known as reverse engineering. Reverse
engineering is also defined as the process of obtaining a geometric CAD model from
3-D points acquired by scanning/ digitizing existing parts/products.
The most common objective of the process is to understand the device, object, product,
substance, material, structure, assembly, or system well enough to allow a new one
capable of doing essentially the same thing or fulfilling essentially the same role
without using or simply duplicating all or some key portion of the original.
Reverse engineering is now widely used in numerous applications, such as
manufacturing, industrial design, and jewellery design and reproduction For ex ample,
when a new car is launched on the market, competing manufacturers may buy one and
disassemble it to learn how it was built and how it works. In software engineering, good
source code is often a variation of other good source code. In some situations, such as
automotive styling, designers give shape to their ideas by using clay, plaster, wood, or
foam rubber, but a CAD model is needed to manufacture the part.

2. Schematically illustrates the differences between forward and backward Engineering.

There are two types of engineering, forward engineering and reverse engineering. Forward
engineering is the traditional process of moving from high-level abstractions and logical
designs to the physical implementation of a system. In some situations, there may be a physical
part/ product without any technical details, such as drawings, bills-of-material, or without
engineering data. The process of duplicating an existing part, subassembly, or product, without
drawings, documentation, or a computer model is known as reverse engineering. Reverse
engineering is also defined as the process of obtaining a geometric CAD model from 3-D points
acquired by scanning/ digitizing existing parts/products.

3. Why Use Reverse Engineering?

Following are some of the reasons for using reverse engineering:
• The original manufacturer no longer exists, but a customer needs the product, e.g.,
aircraft spares required typically after an aircraft has been in service for several years.
• The original manufacturer of a product no longer produces the product, e.g., the
original product has become obsolete.
• 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
for which 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.
• 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.
• 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.

4. Explain the The Generic Process in Reverse Engineering with block diagram
The generic process of reverse engineering is a three-phase process as depicted in Figure, the
three phases are scanning, point processing, and application specific geometric model
development.
5. Explain with neat diagram Phase 1–Scanning in reverse engineering
This phase is involved with the scanning strategy–selecting the correct scanning technique,
preparing the part to be scanned, and performing the actual scanning to capture information that
describes all geometric features of the part such as steps, slots, pockets, and holes. Three-
dimensional scanners are employed to scan the part geometry, producing clouds of points,
which define the surface geometry. These scanning devices are available as dedicated tools or
as add-ons to the existing computer numerically controlled (CNC) machine tools. There are
two distinct types of scanners, contact and noncontact.
Contact Scanners These devices employ contact probes that automatically follow the contours
of a physical surface. In the current marketplace, contact probe scanning devices are based on
CMM technologies, with a tolerance range of +0.01 to 0.02 mm. However, depending on the
size of the part scanned, contact methods can be slow because each point is generated
sequentially at the tip of the probe. Tactile device probes must deflect to register a point; hence,
a degree of contact pressure is maintained during the scanning process. This con tact pressure
limits the use of contact devices because soft, tactile materials such as rubber cannot be easily
or accurately scanned.

Noncontact Scanners A variety of noncontact scanning technologies available on the market

capture data with no physical part contact. Noncontact devices use lasers, optics, and charge-
coupled device (CCD) sensors to capture point data, as shown in Figure below. Although these
devices capture large amounts of data in a relatively short space of time, there are a number of
issues related to this scanning technology.
• The typical tolerance of noncontact scanning is within ±0.025 to 0.2 mm.
• Some noncontact systems have problems generating data describing surfaces, which are
parallel to the axis of the laser.
• Noncontact devices employ light within the data capture process. This creates problems when
the light impinges on shiny surfaces, and hence some surfaces must be prepared with a
temporary coating of fine powder before scanning.

6. Explain Phase 2–Point Processing in reverse engineering

This phase involves importing the point cloud data, reducing the noise in the data collected, and
reducing the number of points. These tasks are performed using a range of predefined filters. It
is extremely important that the users have very good understanding of the filter algorithms so
that they know which filter is the most appropriate for each task. This phase also allows us to
merge multiple scan data sets. Sometimes, it is necessary to take multiple scans of the part to
ensure that all required features have been scanned. This involves rotating the part; hence each
scan datum becomes very crucial. Multiple scan planning has direct impact on the point
 processing phase. Good datum planning for multiple scanning will reduce the effort required in
the point processing phase and also avoid introduction of errors from merging multiple scan
data. A wide range of commercial software is available for point processing. The output of the
point processing phase is a clean, merged, point cloud data set in the most convenient format.

7. Phase 3–Application Geometric Model Development

The need to generate CAD information from physical components will arise frequently
throughout any product introduction process. The generation of CAD models from point data is
probably the most complex activity within RE because potent surface fitting algorithms are
required to generate surfaces that accurately represent the three-dimensional information
described within the point cloud data sets. Most CAD systems are not designed to display and
process large amounts of point data; as a result, new RE modules or discrete software packages
are generally needed for point processing. The applications of RE for generating CAD data are
equally as important as the technology which supports it.
CAD data can be used to get the ISO G code data that can be used to produce a replacement tool
in the shortest possible time using a multi-axis CNC machine. The RE software allows the user
to compare the two data sets (as designed to as manufactured). This process is also used for
inspecting manufactured parts. Reverse engineering can also be used to scan existing hip joints
and to design new artificial hips joint around patient- specific pelvic data. This creates the
opportunity for customized artificial joints for each patient. The output of this phase is geometric
model in one of the proprietary formats such as IGES, VDA, STL, DXF, OBJ, VRML, ISO G
Code, etc.

Module 2
1. What Is Computer-aided Reverse Engineering?
Computer-aided Reverse Engineering (CARE) creates a computer model of an object
through measurements of the object, as it exists in the real world. In this context, we define
CARE as the reversal of CAE or the ability to generate a CAD model from a real-world
tangible object. illustrate in Figure below.

The disc brake appears on the left side of this figure and its CAD model appears on the
right. It uses a laser-based range scanner to create the CAD model. This model is metrically
accurate to within a few millimetres of the original junkyard brake. We can convert a
 tangible object (the disc brake) into a computer model. we can define CARE in terms of the
geometry and shape of an object and not in terms of its functionality. The first step in the
CARE process is to make measurements at points along the surface of the brake. Each point
has an x, y, and z coordinate locating the point in 3-D space. For a given object, a CARE
system will measure hundreds or even thousands of such points depending on the nature of
the object and the type of CARE system. The collection of these points is known as a point
cloud.
The third picture from the left is a feature description of the object, in which the CARE
system has detected surface edges and creases from the point cloud data. The final picture
on the right is a full and complete CAD description of the object. For this description, the
CARE system uses the point cloud and the detected features to fit surfaces for modelling the
entire geometry of the object. For both industrial and military applications, CARE offers
many advantages to the engineering design, manufacturing fabrication, and field support of
a part or component. For example, CARE allows rapid inspection and validation in real time
at the production line based on the original CAD designs. A production technician can
quickly evaluate tolerances relative to the CAD models.

2. Explain Coordinate Measuring Machine to capture the data for RE

A CMM consists of a probe supported on three mutually perpendicular (x, y, and z) axes;
each axis has a built-in reference standard. Figure below provides a conceptual view of a
CMM.

The probe allows accurate measurements along each axis relative to the standard. Thus, a
CMM generates 3-D coordinate points as the probe moves across a surface. Operators may
run a CMM in a manual mode where they maneuver the probe around an object and collect
coordinate measurements, or they may program the probe to maneuver automatically on its
own. Different CMM manufacturers offer different schemes to help operators plan the path
that the probe will follow. The more advanced CMM systems allow operators to upload a
CAD model of the object and then the CMM uses this model for the path planning strategy.
The CMM will analyse the CAD model to identify critical points and regions such as
discontinuity creases or tight spaces. Tight spaces are a point of emphasis because the probe
must come in contact with or be close to the point on the surface where a measurement
occurs. If the probe cannot reach the point due to extension constraints (i.e., the point is too
 far) or limited space (i.e., the probe is too large), then the system cannot measure at that
location. The probe must touch or be near the measurement location.

3. Compare data acquisition by CMM and computer vision method

1. CMMs are generally mechanical systems. Although they have computer control and
use state-of-the-art electronics for measurements, they are bound by physical
principles where a measurement probe must physically maneuver around an object
close to its surfaces. Cameras and range scanners, on the other hand, are solid-state
sensors that take measurements from a distance.
2. The accuracy of a CMM is based directly on the mechanical control of the probe, but
the accuracy of an active stereo system depends more on its solid-state sensors.
3. CMMs must contact the object of interest to measure its geometry. By contrast,
computer vision systems are noncontact in that a camera makes measurements at
some standoff distance.
4. As a probe scans and traverses a surface, it may scratch that surface if the user fails to
handle the probe properly or if the surface itself is too brittle or highly malleable.
Additionally, if the temperature of the surface is too hot or too cold, the heat transfer
could damage the measurement probe. These scenarios are not a major concern with
computer vision systems.
5. The CMM must use a path that covers the object and yet obeys the physical constraints
imposed by interaction between the object and the probe. Path planning for a
computer vision system is less restrictive. A camera or laser range scanner can hover
around the object and collect measurements.
6. CMMs and touch probes are less accurate than computer vision methods

4. Explain the three Illumination control techniques in active stereo.

These major categories are (a) continuous wave modulation, (b) time-of-flight estimation,
and (c) structured-light triangulation. Continuous wave systems measure depth by using a
coherent light source, i.e., a laser, and measure phase differences of the light wave as it
travels to and from the object. The distance of an object from the cam era is proportional to
the phase difference between the transmitted wave and the returning wave. The accuracy of
these systems correlates with the accuracy in measuring the phase differences and the
wavelength of the laser. Time-of-flight methods operate similarly to radar where the system
measures the time required for a laser pulse to travel to and return from an object. Highly
accurate depth measurements require precision electronics to measure speed-of light time
increments. As a third option for active stereo, structured-light techniques compute depth
through geometric triangulation.
 The camera, the object, and the light source form the triangulation geometry. This con
figuration is similar to passive stereo geometry, except that we have replaced one of the
cameras with a light source. The accuracy of these methods is a function of the camera
resolution, geometric dimensions, and illumination precision, but the primary parameter for
controlling and increasing accuracy is the camera resolution. System geometry and
illumination are not as critical. Thus, structured-light systems offer a solution more practical
than passive stereo in achieving the accuracy necessary for an RE system.

5. explain how a computer vision system collects 3-D point information with neat
sketch
In triangulation methods, in which the geometry of the laser, camera, and object are
required to recover the distance from the camera to the object. This distance, or range
value, is a function of three parameters: the base line distance between the light source
and the camera, the viewing angle of the camera, and the illumination angle of the light
source. We have the following equation for the range value, F = (α, B, i j)
where F is a function, possibly nonlinear, α is the illumination angle, and B is the baseline
distance between the camera and the light source. The variables i and j represent the
horizontal and vertical positions, respectively, of a pixel in the camera image. This pixel is
the brightest spot where the light source falls on the imaging plane of the camera. The
point on the image directly correlates with the range, i.e., distance, of the object from the
laser.
Figure below demonstrates how the pixel location changes with increasing range. Due to
the view disparity between the light source, as the object moves further away from the
light source, in this case a point laser, the projection of the laser onto the image plane from
where it strikes the object moves as well. When the object is closest to the laser, Figure a,
the projection is near the left edge of the image plane, but when the object is farthest,
Figure c, the projection is near the right edge.
6. Explain the principle of Sheet-of-light range scanner with a neat sketch
It projects a plane of light onto the object so that this plane intersects the object and forms
a line. That line becomes a projection onto the image plane of the camera. This method is
a direct extension of the point laser approach, except that the line represents a collection
of simultaneous point sources. Thus, one can readily see that a sheet-of-light system allows
one to increase scanning speed over a point laser with almost no increase in effort. The
sheet-of-light method requires only M measurements for an M × N image.
7. Explain the principle of Coded-light range scanner. with a neat sketch
this method does not use a laser source but rather uses a slide projector with patterns
placed in the slide carousel. The system projects these patterns as coded light onto the
object, as the figure illustrates. The patterns take different forms but one technique uses
a checkerboard. The range resolution of this method is a function of the number of
patterns used. Thus, an M × N image would require R measurements where R = log(M)

8. Explain the working of Sheet-of-light Range Imaging system with a neat sketch
Sheet-of-light scanners offer the greatest speed advantage in collecting 3-D data compared
to other laser scanners and thus are the most suitable for CARE applications. Their basic
operation is such that the laser projects a line onto the object of interest, and triangulation
among this line, the laser, and a camera yield 3-D measurements.

The objects are placed on a conveyor belt. This belt is one method for obtaining a full scan
of an object. a single measurement results in a single line–a profile of data. This profile is
the 3-D data for points where the laser line falls on the object. A set of such profiles across
the object is necessary to form a complete 3-D description of the object. Thus the conveyor
belt moves the object under the laser line to scan the profiles over the entire object. If we
stack the resulting profiles together, we have a 3-D model of the object. The conveyor
generates profile slices of the object. Another approach is to not move the object but
rather to move the scanner. The most common arrangement is for the view angle α to be
in the 30–60° range, and camera resolutions are of the order of 512 × 512 pixels or greater.
These pixel resolutions correlate with more than nine bits of range resolution. As the view
angle α increases toward 90° or decreases toward zero, the range accuracy decreases.