APPLICATION OF GREY SYSTEM THEORY TO PROCESSING OF MEASURING DATA IN REVERSE ENGINEERING

The processing of measuri ng data plays an important role in reverse engineering. Based on grey system the ory, we first propose some methods to the processing of measuring data in revers e engineering. The measured data usually have some abnormalities. When the abnor mal data are eliminated by filtering, blanks are created. The grey generation an d GM(1,1) are used to create new data for these blanks. For the uneven data sequ en ce created by measuring error, the mean generation is used to smooth it and then the stepwise and smooth generations are used to improve the data sequence.

Three-Dimensional Geometrical Modelling of Wild Boar Head by Reverse Engineering Technology

In this paper, a wild boar head was taken as the bionic research object for the development of new ridgers, a kind of plough. The reverse engineering technology was adopted to obtain the surface geometrical information of the head. Several three-dimensional （3D） point clouds of the head were captured first using a non-touch laser scanner, and an integrated point cloud was generated by aligning these point clouds using UG/Imageware. Then, the digital surface model of the head was rebuilt by means of CATIA. The characteristic curves of the surface model were analyzed. The results show that the average error between the rebuilt surface and the point cloud is -0.431 ram. The max curvature of the ridge on the neb of the head is 0.187 mm^-1, and the max and rain Gauss curvatures on the surface are 0.008 mm^-2 and -0.002 mm^-2. These geometrical information are the essential parameters for biomimetics study of the ridger.

Color 3D Reverse Engineering

This paper presents a principle and a method of col or 3D laser scanning measurement. Based on the fundamental monochrome 3D measureme nt study, color information capture, color texture mapping, coordinate computati on and other techniques are performed to achieve color 3D measurement. The syste m is designed and composed of a line laser light emitter, one color CCD camera, a motor-driven rotary filter, a circuit card and a computer. Two steps in captu ring object’s images in the measurement process: First, the color CCD camera ta kes the color picture of the object to be used for texture mapping in post proce ssing. Secondly, the monochrome data of the object is taken. The laser light emi tter is started; the light plane and the surface of the object intersect to form an undulate line, which forms an image on the CCD sensor. After the optic- electronics transformation, the electronic signals are captured and send to the computer. A new color 3D measurement model was derived, and a rapid calibra ting method to measure the system parameters was proposed--optical plane equat ion calibrating method. A calibrating drone was designed and built. 3D color sca nning system not only provides an object’s individual point information in the 3D coordinate, in the mean time, it provides the color information of each indiv idual point. This paper also advances a multi-frame auto-merging method, i.e. several frames of color 3D digital images measured are merged quickly according to their curvature characteristics and RGB information. Initial matching and fin e tune of the registration are completely performed by the computer; initial mat ching is via user interface in helping computer to find the transformation matri x. The transformation matrix is found according to the geometric characteristics chosen by hand. After the initial transformation matrix is found, fine tune of the registration is preformed to do the optimum adjustment to achieve a complete color textured 3D model. The system can be broadly used in the fields of produc t design, mold manufacture, multimedia, game development, animation, medical eng ineering, antique digitization, etc.

LEAST-SQUARES METHOD-BASED FEATURE FITTING AND EXTRACTION IN REVERSE ENGINEERING

The main purpose of reverse engineering is to convert discrete data pointsinto piecewise smooth, continuous surface models. Before carrying out model reconstruction it issignificant to extract geometric features because the quality of modeling greatly depends on therepresentation of features. Some fitting techniques of natural quadric surfaces with least-squaresmethod are described. And these techniques can be directly used to extract quadric surfaces featuresduring the process of segmentation for point cloud.

Reverse Engineering of Machine-tool Settings with Modified Roll for Spiral Bevel Pinions

Although a great deal of research has been dedicated to the synthesis of spiral bevel gears, little related to reverse engineering can be found. An approach is proposed to reverse the machine-tool settings of the pinion of a spiral bevel gear drive on the basis of the blank and tooth surface data obtained by a coordinate measuring machine(CMM). Real tooth contact analysis(RTCA) is performed to preliminary ascertain the contact pattern, the motion curve, as well as the position of the mean contact point. And then the tangent to the contact path and the motion curve are interpolated in the sense of the least square method to extract the initial values of the bias angle and the higher order coefficients(HOC) in modified roll motion. A trial tooth surface is generated by machine-tool settings derived from the local synthesis relating to the initial meshing performances and modified roll motion. An optimization objective is formed which equals the tooth surface deviation between the real tooth surface and the trial tooth surface. The design variables are the parameters describing the meshing performances at the mean contact point in addition to the HOC. When the objective is optimized within an arbitrarily given convergence tolerance, the machine-tool settings together with the HOC are obtained. The proposed approach is verified by a spiral bevel pinion used in the accessory gear box of an aviation engine. The trial tooth surfaces approach to the real tooth surface on the whole in the example. The results show that the convergent tooth surface deviation for the concave side on the average is less than 0.5 μm, and is less than 1.3 μm for the convex side. The biggest tooth surface deviation is 6.7 μm which is located at the corner of the grid on the convex side. Those nodes with relative bigger tooth surface deviations are all located at the boundary of the grid. An approach is proposed to figure out the machine-tool settings of a spiral bevel pinion by way of reverse engineering without having known the theoretical tooth surfaces and the corresponding machine-tool settings.

DELAUNAY-BASED SURFACE RECONSTRUCTION ALGORITHM IN REVERSE ENGINEERING

Triangulation of scattered points is the first important section duringreverse engineering. New concepts of dynamic circle and closed point are put forward based oncurrent basic method. These new concepts can narrow the extent which triangulation process shouldseek through and optimize the triangles during producing them. Updating the searching edgesdynamically controls progress of triangulation. Intersection judgment between new triangle andproduced triangles is changed into intersection judgment between new triangle and searching edges.Examples illustrate superiorities of this new algorithm.

METHOD TO EXTRACT BLEND SURFACE FEATURE IN REVERSE ENGINEERING

A new method of extraction of blend surface feature is presented. It contains two steps: segmentation and recovery of parametric representation of the blend. The segmentation separates the points in the blend region from the rest of the input point cloud with the processes of sampling point data, estimation of local surface curvature properties and comparison of maximum curvature values. The recovery of parametric representation generates a set of profile curves by marching throughout the blend and fitting cylinders. Compared with the existing approaches of blend surface feature extraction, the proposed method reduces the requirement of user interaction and is capable of extracting blend surface with either constant radius or variable radius. Application examples are presented to verify the proposed method.

Deformation-based freeform feature reconstruction in reverse engineering

For reconstructing a freeform feature from point cloud, a deformation-based method is proposed in this paper. The freeform feature consists of a secondary surface and a blending surface. The secondary surface plays a role in substituting a local region of a given primary surface. The blending surface acts as a bridge to smoothly connect the unchanged region of the primary surface with the secondary surface. The secondary surface is generated by surface deformation subjected to line constraints, i.e., character lines and limiting lines, not designed by conventional methods. The lines are used to represent the underlying informa-tion of the freeform feature in point cloud, where the character lines depict the feature’s shape, and the limiting lines determine its location and orientation. The configuration of the character lines and the extraction of the limiting lines are discussed in detail. The blending surface is designed by the traditional modeling method, whose intrinsic parameters are recovered from point cloud through a series of steps, namely, point cloud slicing, circle fitting and regression analysis. The proposed method is used not only to effectively and efficiently reconstruct the freeform feature, but also to modify it by manipulating the line constraints. Typical examples are given to verify our method.

Aspect-oriented software reverse engineering

To solve the identification and comprehension problem of crosscutting concerns in existing legacy software system, a framework of aspect-oriented software reveme engineering is proposed. An approach on re-modularizing traversal features of legacy system is presented based on various unified modeling language （UML） diagrams. While modeling crosscutting concerns in UML use case diagrams, the non-functional requirements that affect several use case modules can be enveloped into aspect modules with a stereotype mechanism. The recurring message transmission patterns can be re-modularized as aspects in UML sequence diagrams with UML collaborations. Standard UML activity diagram notations are extended and modified by node fusion and addition, which support the graphical composition operation between crosscutting behaviors and primary business roles of concurrent systems. Case study indicates that travernal features of software system can be extracted and re-modularized from various perspectives in aspect-oriented reverse engineering, which improves comprehensibility and maintainability of legacy systems.

Fringe Projection Measurement System in Reverse Engineering

Acquisition of physical data with high precision is a key step in reverse engineering (RE). It is an important stimulative for the progress of reverse engineering with which various digitizing devices are invent ed, developed and made applicable. This paper introduces a three dimensional opt ical measurement method based on digital fringe projection technique in RE to im prove the technique through its application. A practical example is presented an d the result demonstrates the applicability and feasibility of the measurement s ystem as well as the reliability and validity of relevant methods and algorithms .

A Neural Network Approach on Reverse Engineering Surface Reasoning in the Manufacturing Field

This paper applied the neural network technology to surface reasoning in reverse engineering and established the neural network computation model. One of the main advantages of reasoning solid surface using neural network is that no knowledge about surface is needed, and the limited measured points on the surface will do sufficiently. This paper listed the related reasoning cases, including the elementary analytical surfaces and freeform surfaces, discussed the various issues occurring during reasoning process and proved the feasibility and efficiency of this approach from theory and practical computing cases. The results show that a neural network is an excellent aided analysis means for surface reasoning in reversing engineering and possesses practical use for the surface that is complex, incomplete and partially worn out or damaged.

Reverse Engineering Based Methodology for Redesigning Contour Milling Tools

Reverse Engineering (RE) involves the use of techniques aimed to retrieve information about manufactured products, not only regarding geometries, but also materials and functionality. Today, even if several RE techniques are known, many of them still leave the object unusable to analyze. Nevertheless, other alternatives to this problem allows for obtaining a Digital or Virtual Model (VM) via the three-dimen- sional scanning. Getting the VM of an item, via scanning or not, can offer many possibilities to digital analysis (FEM). Furthermore, starting from VM, it is possible to achieve the physical reproduction of an element, part or workpiece—in the same or different materials—using Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies. This enables to improve the product through a redesign process. In this paper, a RE based methodology is proposed for redesigning a tool for contour milling, after comparing different microscopy based techniques, 3D-Scanner tools and CAD-CAGD utilities for generating a Virtual Model of the newly designed mill.

Reverse Engineering, Some Board Games as a Key to the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Construction of Economic Models

Reverse engineering, also called back engineering, is the process of extracting knowledge or designing information from anything： mechanical device electronic components, computer programs, or biological, chemical matters, and--subsequently--analyzing its components. Reverse engineering can be applied for the sake of creating artificial intelligence, e.g. when the used methods are based on very old games, such as Go and chess. Many generations of computers are able to play at the same level as human grandmasters. A computers＇ arrival at that level is due to imitation of human Go or chess play. A particular emphasis shall be placed upon the Go game, known for 5,500 years. Invented in China, it may be classified as the oldest board game, having its ardent enthusiasts until present times. Old physical issues can be easily projected upon the modeling of new economic phenomena and quantum games. The aim of this paper is to discuss the applications of reverse engineering, traditional social games and other domains, such as quantum physics, to the analysis of utterly new social as well as economic phenomena.

A Modified SOFM Method for Point Cloud Segmentation in Reverse Engineering

The purpose of reverse engineering is to convert a large point cloud into a CAD model. In reverse engineering, the key issue is segmentation, i.e. studying how to subdivide the point cloud into smaller regions, where each of them can be approximated by a single surface. Segmentation is relatively simple, if regions are bounded by sharp edges and small blends; problems arise when smoothly connected regions need to be separated. In this paper, a modified self-organizing feature map neural network （SOFM） is used to solve segmentation problem. Eight dimensional feature vectors （3-dimensional coordinates, 3-dimensional normal vectors, Gaussian curvature and mean curvature） are taken as input for SOFM. The weighted Euclidean distance measure is used to improve segmentation result. The method not only can deal with regions bounded by sharp edges, but also is very efficient to separating smoothly connected regions. The segmentation method using SOFM is robust to noise, and it operates directly on the point cloud. An examples is given to show the effect of SOFM algorithm.

Slicing Method for Reverse Engineering Based on Image Mosaic

Reverse engineering dealing with images is traditionally based on image processing and contour recognition. A new method is presented based on the combination of sectional slicing with image mosaic. Sectional contours of the target object are generated by colorful liquid or laser scanning, these images from different views are fused into a set of complete cross-sectional images, thereby the whole practical model is reconstructed in 3D space.

Integrated Product and Process Design Using a Reverse Engineering System

Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) and revers e engineering (RE) have changed drastically the concept of product re-design, pla nning and manufacture of components. However, the main problems currently facing the developers of reverse engineering system, is the time consuming digitis ation of 3D data and the conversion of large amounts of data into a concise and manageable format and linking it to a CAD/CAM system. Automated 3-D profile gen eration, measurements and inspection of manufactured component represents one of the important functions in reverse engineering and in the improvements in produ ct quality in rapid product developments. The paper presents a novel methodology for the development of a reverse enginee ring technique for use in the rapid product development in a CIM environment . The system developed provides integration, data capture and manipulation, dat a transfer between a CAD, CAM, Computer-aided inspection (CAI) and a 3-D profi le scanning system. An efficient scanning strategy has been developed for scann ing and surfaces data acquisition. The products were scanned using a laser scann ing system with a dedicated scan control card and the associated software packag es. A versatile rig was developed for the ease of data gathering of the profile scanning process. The surface data collected was then used to build a mathematic al surface model, which was then used to develop a virtual 3-D model of the pro duct. The resulting surface model provides the geometrical input to the subseque nt machining operation using either a CNC system or other manufacturing operatio n e.g. dies casting/mould casting etc. The prototypes developed were inspected u sing a state-of-the art CNC-CMM that was integrated to the CAD/CAM system. Si nce the scanning/digitised data captured by laser scanning probes requires no ma nual editing, significant time saving over most non-contact probe systems was a chieved. Since the creation of an accurate CAD model of a redesigned component o r a prototype constitute a major element of the total turnaround time; maximum r eturn can be achieved by increasing the efficiency of the redesigning process. T he paper also outlines with a case study the application of the developed system . The system developed offers the flexibility of using the concept of reverse en gineering of a variety of components with the complimentary facility of integrat ion between CAD/CAM Computer-aided Inspection (CAI) systems and a scanning syst em. The developed reverse engineering application in an integrated manufacturing system can increase the consistency, improve cost-efficiency, reduce produ ct turn around and skill levels required to redesign, reengineer and prototyping components and products.

ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH OF COMPUTER-AIDED MODEL OF HIP JOINT BASED ON REVERSE ENGINEERING

Former research work about the modeling of hip joint focus on the uppersegment of femoral, and assumes the acetabulum cup is sphere concave, and the acetabulum prosthesesis semisphere. A method of acquiring the point data on the surface of the hipbone using the reverseengineering technology is presented. After analyzing the acetabulum surface fitting error, arotation ellipsoid CAD model is applied to fit the acetabulum surface, and then optimizationtechnique is used to find the geometric parameters of the model. The fitting error between thesphere and rotation ellipsoid is compared and gets the result that the fitting error of rotationellipsoid is smaller than sphere, and the rotation ellipsoid can describe the shape of theacetabulum better.

Neural network approach for modification and fitting of digitized data in reverse engineering~

Reverse engineering in the manufacturing field is a process in which the digitized data are obtained from an existing object model or a part of it, and then the CAD model is reconstructed. This paper presents an RBF neural network approach to modify and fit the digitized data. The centers for the RBF are selected by using the orthogonal least squares learning algorithm. A mathematically known surface is used for generating a number of samples for training the networks. The trained networks then generated a number of new points which were compared with the calculating points from the equations. Moreover, a series of practice digitizing curves are used to test the approach. The results showed that this approach is effective in modifying and fitting digitized data and generating data points to reconstruct the surface model.

Reverse Engineering of Mobile Banking Applications

Software reverse engineering is the process of analyzing a software system to extract the design and implementation details.Reverse engineering provides the source code of an application,the insight view of the architecture and the third-party dependencies.From a security perspective,it is mostly used for finding vulnerabilities and attacking or cracking an application.The process is carried out either by obtaining the code in plaintext or reading it through the binaries or mnemonics.Nowadays,reverse engineering is widely used for mobile applications and is considered a security risk.The Open Web Application Security Project(OWASP),a leading security research forum,has included reverse engineering in its top 10 list of mobile application vulnerabilities.Mobile applications are used in many sectors,e.g.,banking,education,health.In particular,the banking applications are critical in terms of security as they are used for financial transactions.A security breach of such applications can result in huge financial losses for the customers as well as the banks.There exist various tools for reverse engineering of mobile applications,however,they have deficiencies,e.g.,complex configurations,lack of detailed analysis reports.In this research work,we perform an analysis of the available tools for reverse engineering of mobile applications.Our dataset consists of the mobile banking applications of the banks providing services in Pakistan.Our results indicate that none of the existing tools can carry out the complete reverse engineering process as a standalone tool.In addition,we observe significant differences in terms of the execution time and the number of files generated by each tool for the same file.

Reverse Engineering Activity Diagrams from Object Oriented Code： An MDA-Based Approach

The success of system modernization depends on the existence of technical frameworks for information integration and tool interoperation like the Model Driven Architecture （MDA）. Reverse engineering techniques play a crucial role in system modernization. This paper describes how to reverse engineering activity diagrams from object oriented code in the MDA context focusing on transformations at model and metamodel levels. A framework to reverse engineering MDA models from object oriented code that distinguishes three different abstraction levels linked to models, metamodels and formal specifications, is described. At model level, transformations are based on static and dynamic analysis. At metamodel level, transformations are specified as 0CL （Object Constraint Language） contracts between M0F （Meta Object Facility） metamodels which control the consistency of these transformations. The level of formal specification includes algebraic specifications of MOF metamodels and metamodel-based transformations. This paper analyzes a recovery process of activity diagrams from Java code by applying static and dynamic analysis and shows a formalization of this process in terms of MOF metamodels. The authors validate their approach by using Eclipse Modeling Framework, Ecore metamodels and ATL （Atlas Transformation Language）.