Software Tools: A Key Component in the Successful Implementation of the ATML Standards

This paper examines the IEEE Automatic Test Markup Language (ATML) family of standards and some of the impediments which must be overcome to successfully implement these standards. The paper specifically focuses on how software tools can help alleviate these issues and increase the benefits of using these new standards in Automatic Test System (ATS) related applications. The ATML standards provide a common exchange format for test data adhering to the Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard. ATML promises to provide interoperability between tools and multiple test platforms through the standardization of common test related data. The ATML standards have now been published through the IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee 20 (SCC20) committee and are beginning to exhibit considerable interest in the ATS community and are now a requirement on some new Department of Defense (DoD) ATS programs. Different aspects of ATML related tools shall be discussed such as ATML Development tools which assist in the generation of ATML compliant instance files, new ATS related tools which use ATML data in their applications and the modification of existing ATS tools to utilize ATML Data. This paper also examines the work in progress of a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) sponsored program to develop ATML and test diagram tools. Utilizing ATML standards without the benefit of tools can be a labor-intensive, error-prone process, and requires an intimate knowledge of the ATML and XML standards. Employing the ATML standards on ATS programs promises to significantly reduce costs and schedule; the use of software tools are a key component in the success of these implementations and will help promote the use of ATML throughout the test industry.