Research and training environment for digital design and test

An environment directed to e-learning is presented for teaching test generation and fault diagnosis in digital circuits. The environment consists of a set of Java applets for learning basics of test preliminary and of a set of low-cost tools for research oriented training in more advanced topics of test. The tools support university courses on digital electronics, computer hardware, testing and design for testability. They help to learn by hands-on exercises bow to generate tests, how to build self-testing systems, how to analyze the quality of tests or testing hardware and how to localize faults in hardware. The tasks chosen for hands-on training represent simultaneously real research problems, which allow to foster in students critical thinking, problem solving skills and creativity.