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Those of you with a telecom background are no doubt aware of the โ€œOSI Network Modelโ€, also known as the OSI pyramid or stack. It is a way of sub-dividing a communications system into smaller parts called layers. A layer is a collection of similar functions that provide services to the layer above it and receives services from the layer below it. A decade ago, the telecommunications test industry underwent a revolution when platforms emerged that could cover multiple layers of the OSI stack. Now, the same thing is happening in the circuit board test industry...
It is a well-known fact that manufacturing test strategies must involve a combination of inspection, structural, and functional test technologies in order to yield highest quality and minimize customer returns. But a new breed of non-intrusive, software-based technologies promises to disrupt legacy test solutions by guaranteeing the highest test coverage at the lowest cost. These technologies leverage off of the embedded instruments within silicon to achieve this goal in the following ways...
The world of validation has changed dramatically over the last few years due to the added challenge of increasing bus speeds. My observation across the industry is there are two camps companies are aligning on...
ASSET has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Innovation of the Year Award in the PCB automated test equipment category by Frost & Sullivan. This distinguished award is a tremendous third-party validation of ASSETโ€™s embedded instrumentation strategy, and is based upon our drive to reduce test costs in the face of increasingly complex test challenges...
Last week, ASSET unveiled the first toolkit for IEEE 1687 at the International Test Conference (ITC) in Austin, TX. ITC is the cornerstone of โ€œTest Weekโ€, a premiere technical event which addresses the challenges of providing high-quality, cost-effective test solutions for chips, boards and systems...
Because ASSET is a pioneer in the use of non-intrusive solutions for validation, test and debug (using what we call โ€œembedded instrumentationโ€), we often get asked if legacy testers like In-Circuit Test (ICT) machines can be used for the testing of high-speed I/O...
The use of effective embedded diagnostics to identify failures in todayโ€™s high-availability systems becomes more critical as semiconductor and board technologies increase in speed and integration. But many OEMs seem to be overlooking this vital aspect of their productsโ€™ post-sales operation...
Once upon a time, circa mid-1980's, surface mount technology (SMT) was becoming all the rage and it was widely reported that in-circuit test (ICT) was doomed! But lo, ICT had (at least) nine lives and would not die - the purveyors of "heavy metal" kept (keep) coming up with new innovations to keep the heart of the beast tickingโ€ฆ
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