Parallel TPS design and application based on software architecture, components and patterns

Parallel test is a new direction for the future automatic test systems (ATS) to reduce test time and costs of the increasingly complex and time-consuming Units-Under-Test (UUTs) test. It is also one of the key technologies of the DOD's "NxTest". In fact, future ATSs must provide some parallel testing features so as to have unparalleled performance. The kernel of the Parallel ATS is Parallel TPS. At present, there are no practical architectural models or patterns for the parallel TPS's R&D. This paper introduces the parallel TPS's analysis, design and application based on software architecture, components and patterns. A brief discussion of the parallel ATS's architecture and system requirements are provided. In order to achieve high levels of reusability and flexibility, an object-oriented meta-model of the parallel TPS is presented, described with Unified Modeling Language (UML). The layered component-based framework of the Parallel TPS is designed based on that meta-model. The framework makes full uses of the design patterns and is more likely to achieve reliability and extendibility. Based on such a framework and design patterns, not only can the parallel TPS reuse both its design architecture and source code, but also can be developed more efficiently and easier to maintain and extend.