Knowledge base to manage the grading and selection of testability guidelines

A management system, called The TestEnablist (TM) is introduced which can deal with the large variety of design for testability (DFT) guidelines available in industry. It is a commonly accepted notion that the most effective DFT technique is one that is incorporated during the normal design activity. Designers, however, may have difficulty recognizing where DFT is needed and which of the myriad of guidelines is applicable to a particular circuit or signal. The selected test strategy and mix of inspection, automatic test equipment (ATE) and built-in self test (BIST) utilized also impacts the selection of guidelines. The TestEnablist is tasked with monitoring the design's testability and to recommend only those guidelines, which are applicable to the circuit and are appropriate for the selected test strategy. Designers are then able to choose among applicable DFT guidelines while they are designing. The TestEnablist accomplishes these tasks by utilizing a knowledge base of industry-generated testability guidelines that are indexed to the selected test strategy as well as to specific design criteria and testability attributes. This paper describes the requirements, use and implementation of The TestEnablist.