Electronics Design-for-Test: Past, Present and Future

Summary form only given. Do you know how many ENIAC vacuum tubes were replaced every day during its heyday? What did it teach us about Test, or design-for-test? did Eldred really invent the stuck-at fault model in 1959? Is 99.999% fault cover all it's cracked up to be or are we fooling ourselves? Are we better off with 115% or even 80%? Where did Design-For-Test come from? Where is it now? Where's it heading? Is it true that boundary scan is the panacea of test? What are all these new joint test action groups - internal, system and compact? Are they boondoggles, or are they serious? Alongside all this, what does the price of oil, cheap airfares, global warming, text messaging for kids, sparrows in Leeuwarden, skype, on-line social networking, IPTV, wearable electronics, Pat Gelsinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Clark Kent, Ella, Georgia and Emilie have to do with the future of test and DFT? On the eve of his retirement after nearly 40 years in the test and DFT industry, the speaker will take a sometimes serious and sometimes irreverent look at the history, current status and projected future of the test and DFT industries, relating to various industries, various market segments (notably the hand-held consumer and telecommunication industries) and the way society is changing. Along the way many myths will be explored and dispelled, and social commentary added to explain certain projections. Come, find out and be amused and amazed.