Reverse engineering is also referred to as the process of backward engineering. It is basically about reconstructing a product to have an idea of how it works. The company will be able to reverse engineer a product for numerous reasons that include fixing, dismantling or recreating it. A lot of experts have a knack for developing an interest in the domain of reverse engineering. Before we proceed ahead there is a need to have an idea about the various forms related to the same.
An idea about the concept of reverse engineering
A lot of times the question crops up what is reverse engineering? In simple terms, it is a process where a designer or a developer dismantles a product to have an idea about the design of the product. At a point in time, the companies used to reverse physical objects, but now the companies are known to incorporate this process into the various codes of applications. The process is going to provide an idea of how a company can formulate a particular component and recreate it.
Normally companies are known to use the backward engineering process to formulate an obsolete component of a product. What it means is that an engineer mimics an original product without the blueprint. There is bound to be a degree of knowledge that is gained during the backward process of engineering and guides a company on how to teach the employees to work together. This enables them to obtain a competitive advantage over the others.
The benefits of reverse engineering
There are a few benefits of reverse engineering as follows
- You can explore the existing products- The process of backward engineering allows you to explore the products that already exist. The moment you go on to evaluate the existing products in the market, it can lead to discovery and innovation
- Recreation of a product- A major objective of reverse engineering is to create a product, where there is no form of a blueprint in place. With the help of this process a company can develop an outdated version of the product, where they will be able to formulate a less expensive version of any product, an obsolete version or to develop a product of a competitor.
- Repairing the existing products- By using this method a company is able to repair the existing product. This is of considerable help in addressing the various design issues that tends to emerge in a product as you can gain an idea on how to fix them for future projects.
- Inspires innovation- one thing has to be said that reverse engineering fosters innovation. The engineers are able to connect with projects who have proper knowledge and would be of help in developing innovative ideas
- Detects product vulnerabilities- it becomes easy for a company to reverse engineer a product or a prototype in the form of a test. By doing this they are able to have an idea about the product in numerous ways and detects any errors. This goes on to reduce inconsistencies in any form.
The steps followed during the process of reverse engineering
When it comes to reverse engineer a product a series of five steps is to be followed
- Collecting information- Starting off the first step backwards engineering is collecting information related to the product. What it means is that you may have to measure product dimensions, figure out the source design or have an idea about the coding of the device. Collection of information is important for the engineers as they are well aware of the product before they are planning to deconstruct it
- Formulation of a model- The moment you have gone on to gather information about a part of a product, it becomes easy for the engineers to sketch a model of the same. These sketches or models, it gives them an idea about the design of the product. Most of the engineers are reliant on the use of a computer-aided design that helps them in the formulation of a three-dimensional view of a product. It is for the simple reason that it helps them interpret each part of the product and view it before they go on to formulate an active presentation of the same.
- Disassembling the product- The moment you develop a model of the product, and after evaluation of its design, the engineers are known to give an idea on how to protect an app from reverse engineering. They are known to taper off the product on a layer-by-layer basis. So as to make the process easier they are known to organize the product in layers in the manner by which they are dismantled earlier. Once they go on to remove each part they are known to analyze, measure or scan the product, to be aware of its use and functionality.
- Evaluation of the product- The moment you go on to disassemble every component of the product, the engineers are known to conduct a product evaluation as they end up studying the parts in detail. Their main focus is to be aware of how to improve the quality of the product or deal with any form of errors that tends to emerge in them. The team of reverse engineering documents the facts of this process of evaluation. Even it is possible to scan the tracing of the product that is going to help them rebuild in the future.
Reassemble- If the focus of reverse engineering is to develop a product, the responsibility of the process tends to lie down with the engineer. The process of rebuilding it gives an idea about the knowledge of the product, as they are in a position to make changes to the product. What it does is that it helps them to create a new or an updated version of the product. This is a process that allows an engineer to become more aware of a product so that they are in a position to recreate the same.