Making a tester out of a heterogeneous collection of instruments

VXI has provided the test equipment user with a versatile hardware platform that supports a wide variety of instrumentation. Many automatic test equipment (ATE) users have discovered that a collection of instruments does not comprise a test system that is suitable for production testing. What is missing is the software glue that orchestrates and controls the testing process. This paper presents the system architecture, implementation, and experience history of a VXI-based test system that is configured using off-the-shelf modules and bound with a custom software run-time framework.<>