Test programming in an ABBET signal-oriented environment

After programming instruments for 10 years and prototyping the ABBET (IEEE-1226) signal-oriented architecture for 1 year, several side effects of programming in the ABBET environment beyond the direct benefits of instrument independence have come to light. Programming test algorithms in terms of signals and their properties is made easier through a more logical division between testing algorithms and hardware control, and also reduces the need for instrument programming manuals. Also, while defining the properties of interest in the signal being tested, explicit statement of requirements is encouraged rather than the reliance on assumptions based on the functionality of most test instrumentation. When design for testability is limited, describing the signal properties at each point in a circuit leads toward separate models of the devices interposed between the device under test and the instruments, greatly increasing test software reuse. Further, hardware idiosyncrasies such as line losses and noise insertion can also be modeled separately rather than lumping the effects into one tolerance quantity. The way in which the instrument independence was achieved facilitates the development of a virtual test set which can thoroughly and reliably prove the correct execution and error detection of the test algorithms, without using the physical test set instruments.