Instrumentation: Automated board testing: Coping with complex circuits: As printed circuit boards become harder to test due to VLSI components, automated systems and new design techniques are coming to the rescue

Automated test equipment represents some four fifths of the total capital costs of manufacturing VLSI-based circuit boards, so efficient use of this equipment is crucial to the overall manufacturing process. Yet today's test technology can barely handle the level of complexity of the most advanced existing electronic products.