The Power of an Automated Test Framework

The definition of an automated test framework (ATF) for hardware testing can vary drastically. At the core they all have a common goal: to take measurements, determine the quality of the Device Under Test (DUT) and get results to a consumable state. In other words, there are 3 essential components to an ATF which are identified as: 1- Hardware communication 2- Test scripts (sequencing and limit checking) 3- Result processing In addition to the 3 essential components, other components can be identified in an ideal ATF such as user interfaces, result analysis tools, configuration tools, and many more. How these components are architected and integrated together can impact the productivity of a test organization dramatically. An ideal ATF will abstract each of the components from each other in a modular fashion. This plug and play architecture provides a more flexible, reusable, ATF that can pay dividends in the long run. What if you could record what the user was doing during a manual procedure and then play it back later as many times as needed? This is just one example of how a properly architect ATF is useful. This whitepaper discusses an ideal, component rich, ATF built for maximizing code reuse, shortening test development efforts, reducing debug times, and minimizing technical debt.