The Digital Concurrent Engineering Platform DCEP

Abstract

In the field of aerospace applications, a wide spread of highly specialized domains exists, with dataand expertise being distributed among different institutes and companies due to product complexity anddiversity. Providing easy and secure access to shared and individual resources during product developmentis a significant challenge. Additionally, the necessity of exchanging design documents and specificationsas well as data in different formats contributes to development costs and time. Digital platforms canprovide a solution for these issues by allowing different institutions and experts to securely and remotelyshare their tools and knowledge and by providing a common data base during development.The Institute of Structures and Design of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is currently developingthe Digital Concurrent Engineering Platform (DCEP) in the project IRAS (Integrated Research platformfor Affordable Satellites) to enable cooperative, distributed development of satellites. The DCEP providesa web-based software platform for model-based engineering in the form of a parametrical representation ofthe design tree. Concepts and technologies to allow faithful collaboration between potentially competingcompanies are developed and adopted. This includes indirect access to connected software tools anddatabases as well as secure traceability of modifications and contribution authorship. The current focusof the DCEP platform are the early design phases, with support for automated design tools and algorithmsdeveloped within IRAS. Long-term goal of DCEP development is the creation of a platform that managesdigital data and collaborative development through all phases of a satellite life cycle, from early designto production and operation up to decommissioning. For this, the DCEP platform design is based on adistributed, modular concept, which enables future extensions and additionally provides opportunities forthe DCEP to be used for a wide range of other potential applications outside of satellite development.This paper will provide an overview of the platform’s concepts, methods and technologies and presentthe current state of development as well as planned future steps.