What is Reverse Engineering?

Reverse Engineering is a process that measures the technological values of an object or system through analysis function, structure and operation. Usually something will need to be taken apart for its internal working to be asses and analysed. The purpose of this type of engineering is to deduce how a product works without any prior knowledge on its construction.

To quote an expert “It is going backwards through a traditional development cycle”.

Why use reverse engineering?

It has many applications one of them being document recovery. If a document has been lost and is unable to be used as it is needed then reverse engineering can be applied. Another application if it is in product analysis. If a manufacturer stops producing a product then another manufacturer may want to start selling it and use reverse engineering to ascertain how it was made initially.

If a supplier refuses to supply new parts for a product then you could use this type of engineering to have new ones made by another company. You can use it to examine how well a product works, what it is made of and estimated costs. It has a fairly military background and has been used in espionage where a enemies devices have been stolen and dismantled to discover its inner most workings.

How does reverse engineering work?

The process starts with the item in question being measured and the re-created as a 3D model. Measurements are usually gleaned using white light scanners.

Reverse engineering and the Military

As previously mentioned it is very often used by military forces of certain nations to copy other nation’s technologies and advancements. There are a couple of famous examples of reverse engineer that came out of the war.

• Jerry cans, as you may know, are petrol containers. The American and British forces noticed that the Germans had really well designed containers so they obtained one of these and reverse engineered it for their own use.
• B-29 Bombers were copied by the Russians after American Bombers were forced to land in Russia after a mission to Japan. Within a few years they had managed to develop a near perfect copy through reverse engineering.

Many industries use this form of engineering

Software engineering, automotive engineering, entertainment, microchips, chemicals, electronics, consumer products, and mechanical design are all sectors where this is used. Lead-times can be shortened by using reverse engineering which makes it an incredibly useful process.

For more information see reverse engineering