Object-oriented modelling of a feature-based reverse engineering system

Reverse engineering, as applied to manufacturing, is the process of extracting design and manufacturing data from an existing part. Typical applications of reverse engineering are in the areas of automated inspection and redesign of complex tools and existing parts. A review of research in reverse engineering reveals that most of the existing systems rely extensively on human interaction. A reverse engineering system has been developed which aims at automating the process of feature-based design model generation for existing parts. A database structure for the system based on the object-oriented paradigm has been designed. The object-oriented approach proved to be suitable for handling the heterogenous data structures involved in reverse engineering. This paper describes the elements of the reverse engineering system and the integration of various components of the system using object-oriented database structure.