Post on 28-Nov-2018
www.geotestinc.com 1
Integration of Software
Technologies into a Test
System
Victor Fernandes
EMEA Sales Manager
Geotest M.T.S 6 – Impasse de la Nouzotte
78760 – Jouars Pontchartrain – France
Tel: +33 9 71 20 89 65 , Fax: +33 1 39 30 29 78
E-mail : victorf@geotestinc.com
www.geotestinc.com
www.geotestinc.com 2
Corporate Structure
2
Airborne Armament
Equipment - which
includes ejector racks,
missile launchers,
aircraft pylons and other
associated equipment
Large scale & precision
machined components,
assemblies and
subassemblies
Test and
Measurement
Instrumentation
Software &
Systems
Vehicle systems such
as equipment trailers,
environmental
systems and weapons
integration
Ground Vehicles - a
range of Advanced Light
Strike Vehicles for special
forces teams
3
geotestinc.com
We are the only PXI manufacturer offering instruments, mainframes, and software as well as
system integration services & turnkey systems
Products Only
Geotest provides: Provide hardware and
software components
(COTS)
Customer Does :
All system development
and integration
Pre-wired system
Geotest provides:
Items installed in a rack
plus hardware is wired to
a mass interconnect
(Core ATE)
Customer Does :
All system software and
Interface Test Adapter
(ITA) development
Partial solution
Geotest provides:
Pre-wired system plus
a self-test adapter
Customer Does :
All UUT software and
ITA development
Turn-Key solution
Geotest provides:
All ATE Items plus all
UUT TPS
development
Customer Does :
Nothing
Geotest Products and Services
www.geotestinc.com
High voltage pin electronics
Other Resources
Digital
Resources
Digital I/O with
PMU
Measurement & Switching
FPGA Instrument
High Speed
Digital I/O
Software
Packages
Stimuli
Instruments
Chassis & Power Supply
Geotest - PXI Products
Applications
WWW.TEROTEST.COM
t e r o t e s t A U T O M A T I C T E S T E Q U I P M E N T
About Terotest
• Established 1982
– GEOTEST MTS Distributor for UK
• Produce a range of ATE, including:
- iTest Latest range of Functional, InCircuit
& PXI-based test systems
- CTS100 Functional Digital test system with
15V pin cards and links to LASAR
- LINX Fixtureless Backplane and Cable
Harness test system
www.geotestinc.com 6
Background
The incorporation of various software technologies and
methods has become common place in today’s functional test
systems.
Increasingly test engineers are employing multiple
languages and test methods as part of a test program set (TPS).
When one includes the use of both textual and graphical
programming languages, the breadth test methods grows even
larger.
Clearly, having a robust tool set that can accommodate
and assist the developer in combining these various
architectures, languages and methods can be a real benefit to
the test developer.
www.geotestinc.com 7
Background
Modern test systems routinely require incorporation multiple software and hardware technologies like:
Instrument Drivers
DLL, ActiveX/COM, .NET
IVI, FP, LLB, VI
Support for multiple instrument busses
PXI/PC, GPIB, VXI, LXI,PXIe,USB, RS232…
Integration of pure software components / applications
Excel
Database
XML/HTML/ATML
Math/Analysis
Support for a variety of programming languages
Legacy application support
• Summation ,proprietary ATE language….
www.geotestinc.com 8
The expanded language (TRD)
The expanded T&M language allows user-defined statements
(commands) that create a self documented, TRD
(Test Requirements Document)-like, easy to
generate test applications using built-in features
such as code completion. The language can be
used to create statements such as:
PS Set Voltage (5) Volts
DMM Set Function VDC
MATRIX Switch(Dmm,Row1 )
DMM Measure (TestResult)
Or statements such as:
SYSTEM Measure VDC J13 (TestResult)
9
geotestinc.com
ATEasy Library
Incorporation multiple software and hardware
technologies
Instrumentation/Switching
LabView /LW
•Tests
•Dev. UI
•Executables
C
VB •Tests
•Dev. UI
•Executable
Production & Development
Environments
Manage Test Sequence/flow
Production UI
Reports/
Data logging
Release / Control
Programs
Manage Users
&
Data Base
Test Executive
Python
TCL
Other
……
Core Software Technologies (DLL,OCX…)
Soft. Adapt Soft. Adapt Soft. Adapt Soft. Adapt
UUT
Instruments /Signal description language (TRD)
(READ VOLTAGE AT J1_P2 )
ATML / XML
ATLAS
Secondary Software Technologies(IVI.Visa.fp.VI)
www.geotestinc.com 10
Support for Core Software Technologies
DLL files
• Windows API support
• Instrument Drivers, IVI-C
• Bus Interfaces, e.g. PXI, VXI, LXI, etc.
COM/ActiveX/OCX support
• ActiveX Controls
• External Components (Excel)
• IVI-COM
.NET framework support
• Windows Components
• Support for a broad range of methods & features
www.geotestinc.com 11
Support for Secondary Software Technologies
IVI-C – DLL
Function Panel Drivers (.fp) - DLL
IVI-COM - ActiveX
C/C++ header files (.h) - DLL
LabView .llb/.vi - ActiveX, DLL
GPIB, VXI, LXI,… – DLL
Spreadsheet & Database support
• ActiveX
• .NET
www.geotestinc.com 12
Integrating Diverse Technologies
Can be a very complex task
Time consuming
Requires knowledge of technologies
Who writes the test applications?
How can we integrate all these technologies
and …
• Make them simple to use
• Provide a common interface for use
• Standardize error and exception handling
• Standardize initialization
A software framework can help integrate these
technologies
www.geotestinc.com 13
Integrating Diverse Technologies
ActiveX objects
Data Base Excel & word templates
Soft
Adapt
Driver & commands
definition editor
OCX
DLL
DLL
IVI
VI
FP
ActiveX
TRD – Program documentation
Tasks
Tests
Init Proc
End Proc
Program Generator & debug
Test executive
System
&
resources
management
Soft
Adapt
Soft
Adapt
Soft
Adapt
T&M Instruments
www.geotestinc.com 14
Integrating Diverse Technologies
Tasks
Tests
Init Proc
End Proc
Power Supply Set Voltage (5) Volts
DLL
DLL
Soft
Adapt
Soft
Adapt
Soft
Adapt
T&M Instruments
Program Generator & debug
Test executive
OCX
www.geotestinc.com 15
Commands definition example
Commands are User
Defined Statements
Example: DMM Set Function VDC
DMM Measure (TestResult)
www.geotestinc.com 16
Integrating a DLL
Dynamic Link Library (DLL):
• Export functions by name or number
• No type or parameters information required
• No description
Language dependent programming interface
• C – just include header file and call function
• VB – include header or create one from .h
• Other languages
• Manually describe function, data type, constants,
& return call convention
• Automatic importing of header file (.h)
www.geotestinc.com 17
Integrating DLLs - Problems
Data Types are different
• Type conversion?
• Ambiguous data types (short *, short [])
• Structure packing, union
Calling Conventions (stdcall, cdecl),
Return data type can be ambiguous
Ordinal support
Preprocessing of header files can be complex
• Typedef
• Macro
• Nested include
• Windows.h
www.geotestinc.com 20
DLL based Driver (Cont’d)
A typical DLL function call to an instrument may look like that below
void _API_ Gx6616Close(SHORT nHandle, SHORT nGroup, SHORT nRow, SHORT
nColumn, LPSHORT pnStatus);
This can be mapped to a command to make easier to use and make test
flow easier to understand
The procedure parameters for handle and status can be handled at a
lower layer allowing for simpler command use
MATRIX Close (Channel_1, Ressource_DMM, Status)
www.geotestinc.com 21
Integrating ActiveX/COM Objects
Component Object Model (COM)
• Libraries that contain type description for control,
classes, functions and data types
Classes/Controls : Properties, methods, Events
Data types limited and adhere to a standard
Run and design time information (properties)
Late and Early Bind
Function may contain a description and link to
external help
www.geotestinc.com 23
Integrating .NET Assemblies
Similar to COM, but more complex
Feature and types are rich
Supports inheritance, static and virtual
members, parameter constructors, overloading,
templates and more…
Large libraries are built into windows and
support most windows API in an object
oriented (OO) manner
Assemblies can be written with any .NET
language
www.geotestinc.com 25
Integrating Function Panel (.fp) drivers
VXI Plug & Play Drivers support not only VXI
instruments (http://www.vxipnp.org)
DLL based driver
Offers some standardization for instrument
drivers
• Goes beyond a plain DLL
• Includes initialization, error handling,
• Based on VISA
Includes a command tree
www.geotestinc.com 27
IVI Drivers
Builds on top of the VXI Plug & Play standard
Classes for “standard instruments” and custom for others
Allows interchangeability of instruments without
changing the software
8 classes include SCOPE,
PS, SWITCH, ARB,
Spectrum Analyzer, …
Two flavors of IVI
• IVI-C
• IVI-COM (Agilent mostly)
28 geotestinc.com
LabView Drivers
Wizard creates functions to pass
parameters to LabVIEW
VIs can be selected and opened for
viewing or editing within wizard interface
Parameter can be included or
excluded, selection is remembered for
future re-import – this avid redundant
parameters and allow keeping track of
changes
LabView run-time must be installed
along with all dependent VIs
www.geotestinc.com 29
Summary - Integration, Anyone?
A software framework can greatly simplify and
speed-up the integration of software technologies
Minimizes the requirement to be a “software
technologist”
Promotes consistent use of technologies and
methods
Use of encapsulation hides the difficult parts of
Implementation
The right tool set or framework offers a cost
effective and time-saving solution when integrating
various software technologies
www.geotestinc.com 30
200x 20xx 199x
ATEasy ROADMAP
1991 ATEasy 1.0
1994 ATEasy 2.0
1999 ATEasy 3.0
32-bit arch.
2002 ATEasy 4.0
2004 ATEasy 5.0
2006 ATEasy 6.0
2007 ATEasy 7.0
1995 NT support 2010
ATEasy 8.0
Compatibility is always maintained between versions