An XML-based test system management environment

Test system resource management is an important aspect of test asset maintenance and configuration control. It is a key requirement in all ATS procurement activities and affects a number of disciplines from TPS developers to calibration and maintenance personal. Teradyne's TestStudio test operating environment software provides a set of services for specifying and viewing test system contents, configuration and connectivity information stored as a series of XML files. XML offers the advantages of enhanced transportability of the data it expresses and the ease of displaying data in electronic (e.g., a web browser) or printed form. The TestStudio services, known collectively as the test system management environment, access three XML files that constitute a database that holds information about the instruments in the ATS, how they are wired to each other, how they are wired to the ATS interface, and how the interface connections are wired to UUT pins. In addition, these XML files hold information about the individual instruments such as physical location and logical address within the ATS chassis, identifiers like serial number, and the name and version of the instrument driver. All this information is easily viewed on-system, can be printed out in hardcopy in any format or layout, or used programmatically in a UUT TPS or ATS test program. The information expressed in these XML files coincides with the requirements currently being generated and prototyped in the ATML Standards Group. This paper will discuss the details of the Test System Management Environment, the information contained in it, the role of XML in it, and the mechanisms for utilization of the data in Maintenance and Configuration Management reports and TPS's.