Enhancement of the use of digital mock-ups in the verification and validation process for ITER remote handling systems

The paper is part of the EFDAʹs programme of European Goal Oriented Training programme on remote handling (RH) “GOT-RH”. The programme aims to train engineers for activities supporting the ITER project and the long-term fusion programme. This paper is written based on the results of a project “verification and validation (V&V) of ITER RH system using digital mock-ups (DMUs)”. The purpose of this project is to study efficient approach of using DMU for the V&V of the ITER RH system design utilizing a system engineering (SE) framework. This paper reviews the definitions of DMU and virtual prototype and overviews the current trends of using virtual prototyping in the industry during the early design phase. Based on the survey of best industrial practices, this paper proposes ways to improve the V&V process for ITER RH system utilizing DMUs.