Composability Applications for Test System Development

The demand for low cost high quality products is continuing to grow in the marketplace. Technology and the advent of robotic engineering have paved the way to reduce cost of manufacturing, and, yet, the cost of test and its resulting test equipment is still high. How, then, do we approach the problem of reducing the cost of test and, at the same time, streamline the assembly and test flow? The answer lies in establishing a Composable Test Architecture, which utilizes common test methods (CTM) for testing functions and defines composable test systems to test those functions. Most products can be decomposed into key functions, encapsulated within a system utilizing a modular open system architecture. Specific modular systems can then be selected and composed into a more complex product, such as a smartphone, to satisfy the user's needs without losing any of its core functionality. Thus, the modular product can also be called a composable system, to which common test methods can be applied and subsequent composable test systems aligned to the modular product can be developed. By defining a standard methodology for testing each composable system in a product, the cost of test can be reduced by reusing those CTMs for new product development. The end result is the establishment of a composable test library that includes 1) the CTMs which define the test methodology, or “how to test”, for each composable system, and 2) the corresponding composable test equipment used to test the composable system. Composable test equipment is comprised of a standardized set of test instruments performing a standard list of test measurements. As the end product is built up, the same set of test instruments and measurements can be utilized at the next level of assembly to ensure the final product still meets requirements. This paper discusses the principles behind composable systems and how that can be leveraged to build composable test equipment. The conclusion will demonstrate how implementing a composable test architecture can shorten the test equipment development cycle and streamline test in the factory.