USMC model-based programming (MBP) project

The United States Marine Corps (USMC) has a requirement to develop Test Program Sets (TPSs), reduce costs, and provide compatibility with other testers. The USMC Automated Test Support Unit (ATSU), Lockheed Martin Federal Systems (LMFS), and Naval Weapon Station (NWS) teamed together to develop methods and procedures that would implement an open architecture TPS development environment. A Broad Based Environment for Testing (ABBET) standard established the baseline for this architecture, and the business process reengineering analysis produced the Model-Based Programming (MBP) Project. MBP has been designed to standardize test programs that are unit under test (UUT)-specific and Automated Test Equipment (ATE)-independent. "TO-BE" information models were developed and analyzed to predict the intended information flow under the MBP-enhanced TPS development process. Currently, the USMC is planning to migrate to the Third Echelon Test Set (TETS) in 1998. As the TETS becomes available, the MBP Project will provide TPSs that can be fielded to TETS or targeted to other DoD ATE platforms. While the original TPSs development process remains unchanged, data bases and tools technologically enhance development to yield improved TPSs quality, consistency, compatibility and reduce costs.