TPS development of parallel automatic test systems

With current generation and next generation test systems focusing on testing efficiency, it is critical to develop test strategies that maximize testing throughput, make better use of the increasingly expensive instruments used in test station and drive down test costs. Parallel test, which means multiple units-under-test (UUTs) can undergo testing simultaneously, improves testing strategy by enhancing product flow, reducing aggregate test times, and improving instrument usage. The research and development of parallel automatic test systems (PATS) discussed in this paper is on the basis of common automatic test systems (CATS). Under the condition that PATS possesses all testing resources of CATS, how to make better use of instruments to increase throughput and cut down testing costs? The TPS (test program set) development of PATS is regarded as the key in this paper. The main tasks of the TPS development of PATS include the following four themes. The first is how to analyze test requirements. The second is how to design test unit adapter supporting parallel test. The third is to design and develop test program supporting multiple tasks and threads, which is the core of PATS. The last theme is how to manage multiple tests of PATS. We use the COTS software-TestStandTM to manage parallel testing tasks easily. In the paper, the development and management procedure of PATS's TPS is discussed in detail based on the TPS development of missiles PATS.