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This project will develop and demonstrate an automated Reverse Engineering system that will nondestructively extract the information necessary to remanufacture multi-layer printed wiring assemblies (PWAs) and will replace the manual system of utilizing manual parts identification and test fixtures with an automated system that reduces cost and remanufacturing lead-time. Critical technology will be developed to sustain Army’s weapon systems by cutting costs up to 90% and reduce cycle time up to 90%. The system will extract board layout information and convert it to electronic data for the generation of technical data packages.
There are more than 450,000 different types of printed circuit boards in the Army’s weapon systems. Many of these printed circuit boards are not available to the Army because major electronic corporations have exited the defense electronics business and small contractors have gone out of business. Thus, the lack of technical data packages, diminishing manufacturing sources and parts obsolescence have forced Tobyhanna Army Depot to reverse engineer multi-layer printed circuit boards. The costs associated with the reverse engineering from outside sources are $100K/board and also requires long lead times. Tobyhanna Army Depot has identified the requirement of 75-100 reverse engineered boards/year for the foreseeable future, and can reduce the production cost to $10K/board.
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