Ultrasonic Methods for Reverse Engineering

A non-contact reverse engineering technique based on ultrasonic sensors for 3D surface profiling is prresented and applied to proof-of-concept samples. Reverse Engineering (RE) is the process of analysing a subject system or product to identify its components and their interrelationships and create representations of the system or product in another form or at a higher level of abstraction. In production engineering, RE is a term used to describe the creation of a digital dataset based on a physical representation, inverting the regular process of going from an idea through the CAD/CAM construction to a product. There are several ways of digitising a physical representation (object). The main distinction is in the use of a contact or non contact pointer to detect the geometrical information of the part under examination.