Applying new software technologies to solve key system integration issues

This paper introduces a new concept and model for building complex ATE systems. The underlying principles were discovered over several years but were driven home by the difficulty found in modernizing a legacy test system. The result of this effort produced a solution that provided answers to the following three questions: (1) How to achieve asset interchangeability in complex test and measurement systems; (2) How to place test system software in a modular component form that can be reused in different ATE or desk top environments, and (3) How to apply new software technologies in distributed computing to ATE systems.