Signal oriented test programs: fact or fiction?

Traditional automatic test system (ATS) test programs are written in various versions of the abbreviated test language for all systems (ATLAS). Many of these versions are based on the commercial standard ATLAS 626 or the IEEE standard C/ATLAS 716. One of the key features of ATLAS is its ability to describe signals in an English-based, human readable format. This feature allows test engineers to write test programs utilizing verbs such as setup and apply, to identify signals such as AC signal and DC signal, and to utilize terms like voltage, frequency, and DC offset.