Virtual Prototyping - An Open System Environment to Support the Integrated Product Development Process

The ability to rapidly prototype a proposed design is becoming a key contributor towards fulfilling the business requirements embodied in a short time-to-market, in cost-effective and high quality manufacturing, and in easy support and maintenance. Reorganizing the design and development process along the lines implied by the concept, Concurrent Engineering, means that advanced information technologies must be taken advantage of. However, most of today's generic, commercial, off-the-shelf technlogies have to be extended and adapted to the needs of the product development process. The integration of existing technologies in CAD modelling, design, analysis, simulation, networked cooperation, and virtual reality leads to a distributed desktop-environment which provides the basis to take the greatest advantage of the Virtual Prototyping technique.