Usability of menu-versus icon-based software in automatic test equipment (ATE) control

Computer controlled equipment is now widely used in industry to support the testing of products during both development and production. Such systems have traditionally been controlled using menu-based software which has often been written in-house using standard programming languages. Recently however, a number of icon-based languages using graphical programming and interfacing techniques have become available. A study is reported which aimed to find out if the new icon-based software provided usability advantages over the traditional methods, and hence, improve the efficiency of the engineers use of ATE (Automatic Test Equipment). A number of trials were carried out in order to assess the relative usability of the two forms of software.