Migration of legacy test programs to a modern computer platform [for avionics testing]

Boeing, like many companies, was faced with solving test station obsolescence to preserve the investment of over two hundred fifty test programs for in-house manufacturing as well as airline customer support. Boeing needed to update the computer on a 1980s vintage Hewlett-Packard (HP) 1000 computer-based ATE. A SUN SPARC Ultra 30 computer was selected to replace this out of production HP computer. The increased processing speed that was provided by this newer computer had the potential to impact the investment of test programs. A goal was established to not change the test programs or to at least minimize the required changes due to the potential cost. Preserving these test programs written in BASIC, FORTRAN and ATLAS 616 was a significant technical challenge. This paper discusses the innovations and ultimate solutions to minimizing test program changes required by the computer upgrade. It discusses timing issues created by the upgrade and how a balance was made between keeping TPS changes to a minimum while taking advantage of the increased processing speed in compiling and executing the test programs. It also addresses some of the enhancements requiring test software modifications that were determined to add significant value to the automated test system.