Eurofighter partners: Alenia Aeronautica and Daimler-Benz Aerospace to use EXPRESS Data manager

The first Eurofighters are scheduled to be delivered in 2001. (Photo: Eurofighter GmbH)

The Italian aerospace company Alenia Aeronautica and the German aircraft producer Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) have decided to integrate EXPRESS Data Manager (EDM) into their existing PDM systems.

Alenia Aeronautica in Torino will apply EDMdeveloperSeat and EDMmodelConverter for mapping and translation of technical data using EXPRESS-X. Further, they will use EDMvisualExpress to create and visualize data models based on the graphical notation EXPRESS-G. The EXPRESS Data Manager components will be the integrated STEP enabling tools in Alenia's existing PDM system, ProductManager from Dassault, which runs on the AIX operating platform.

Dasa in Munich will also use EDMvisualExpress, EDMdeveloperSeat and EDMmodelConverter as the modeling and mapping tools to convert all data in compliance with the ISO 10303/STEP standard. The modules from EXPRESS Data Manager will be integrated with Dasa's current PDM application, Metaphase from Siemens, which runs on the SUN Solaris UltraSPARC platform.

All exchange of information will be carried out by utilizing the most advanced private and secured network which will be put in operation later this year. For quality assurance Dasa will use the EDMmodelChecker to analyze both incoming and outgoing STEP-files. This way they can validate a dataset and ensure that it conforms to all rules and constraints defined in the EXPRESS schemas.

Dasa has very good relations with the advanced R&D environment at the Technical University of Munich. Normally a member of the professional research staff at the university, Dipl.-Ing. Jörg Wirtz is now one of the central members of the Dasa Eurofighter project team. The collaboration between the two institutions represents a strong combination for the development of the integration work.

The interoperability which results from the project partners choosing STEP as the standardized environment for data sharing and exchange will mean that technical data from suppliers and contractors can be imported and shared by the Eurofighter partners, eliminating the need for point-to-point translators in each case.

The Eurofighter

Manufactoring of the first Eurofighter military aircraft is expected to start later this year, following extensive and successful testing of prototypes. The four participating countries in the consortium, the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, have ordered a total of 620 aircrafts. Furthermore, Norway and Greece have signaled interest in acquiring the Eurofighter for their respective air force divisions.