Open Architecture Tools to Describe Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) Capabilities
Navy SBIR FY2018.1


Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2018.1
Topic No.: N181-009
Topic Title: Open Architecture Tools to Describe Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) Capabilities
Proposal No.: N181-009-0265
Firm: Technology Service Corporation
251 18th Street S
Suite 705
Arlington, Virginia 22202
Contact: Daniel Coons
Phone: (812) 558-7087
Web Site: http://www.tsc.com
Abstract: The automated test equipment (ATE) family provides state-of-art testing capabilities for weapons replaceable assemblies across the DoD. However, each ATE�?Ts testing capabilities are defined in a proprietary way. The absence of an open and standardized representation limits tool interoperability, makes it more difficult to use COTS automated tools, and can cause confusion in test station instrumentation. The Automated Test System (ATS) Framework Integrated Product Team identified the Automatic Test Markup Language (ATML), an IEEE standard, as a viable language to describe the capabilities of ATSs and test instruments. TSC proposes developing open architecture ATML Toolkit software that can describe ATE capabilities, catalog test instrument features, and display/report information in a human readable format. The tool will store ATE capabilities in a reconfigurable database determined by the ATE family and its test instruments. From the database, the tool will generate a file adhering to the IEEE 1636 Test Results schema and display its output to a graphical user interface. The tool will be capable of parsing ATML files and augmenting the ATE capabilities database automatically. To aid in adopting ATML standards, TSC will also create a free open-source software tool for creating common signal models and ATML Test Instrument Description files.
Benefits: The TSC ATML Toolkit will give military and commercial testers a tool for specifying ATE signal and measurement capabilities in an Open Architecture approach. These capabilities will be described in industry IEEE standard Automatic Test Markup Language (ATML). The Tool will give developers access to the ATE capabilities in a human readable format to assist Test Adapter, Test Program Set (TPS), and Test Requirement Description (TRD) development. The Tool will also create an interactive database of the DoD Family of Testers. This database will give system designers a tool to analyze testing capabilities early in the Design for Testing (DFT) process.

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