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The Economics of NBT

Alan Sguigna

March 12, 2011
8:36 am

As testing with legacy equipment becomes more problematic, engineers look for better ways to improve test coverage, enhance diagnostics, and speed up test times. But an overriding consideration is the cost of test – are the new test technologies more or less expensive than older solutions like ICT?

The test stack

Alan Sguigna

February 20, 2011
9:20 am

Those of you with a telecom background are no doubt aware of the “OSI Network Model”, 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...

Testing 2nd generation Intel® Core™ microarchitecture (aka Sandy Bridge)

Alan Sguigna

January 17, 2011
4:16 pm

Some of you may have noticed Intel’s announcement this past week at CES of the new generation of desktop/mobile processors, the 2nd Generation Intel Core family. These processors are based upon a new microarchitecture at a 32nm process node. This increased level of density and functionality requires new board testing strategies...

Test coverage using multiple technologies

Alan Sguigna

January 10, 2011
9:17 pm

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...

Hope is not a strategy…

Glenn Woppman

December 17, 2010
11:45 am

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...

Structural versus Functional Test, and Test Coverage versus Diagnostics

Alan Sguigna

December 9, 2010
5:32 pm

What’s the difference between circuit board structural test and functional test? And how does test coverage relate to diagnostics? These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but not knowing the difference may result in a less-than-optimal test methodology. Let me explain…

ASSET receives prestigious Frost & Sullivan award

Alan Sguigna

December 5, 2010
4:03 am

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 ASSET’s embedded instrumentation strategy, and is based upon our drive to reduce test costs in the face of increasingly complex test challenges...

A week at ITC

Alan Sguigna

November 12, 2010
5:26 am

Last week, ASSET unveiled the first toolkit for IEEE 1687 at the International Test Conference (ITC) in Austin, TX. ITC is the cornerstone of “Test Week”, a premiere technical event which addresses the challenges of providing high-quality, cost-effective test solutions for chips, boards and systems...

High Speed I/O Testing on In-Circuit Test

Alan Sguigna

November 4, 2010
6:19 pm

Because ASSET is a pioneer in the use of non-intrusive solutions for validation, test and debug (using what we call “embedded instrumentation”), we often get asked if legacy testers like In-Circuit Test (ICT) machines can be used for the testing of high-speed I/O...

Rooting out impossible bugs

Alan Sguigna

September 26, 2010
2:55 pm

The use of effective embedded diagnostics to identify failures in today’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 products’ post-sales operation...

The Economics of NBT

The test stack

Testing 2nd generation Intel® Core™ microarchitecture (aka Sandy Bridge)

Test coverage using multiple technologies

Hope is not a strategy…

Structural versus Functional Test, and Test Coverage versus Diagnostics

ASSET receives prestigious Frost & Sullivan award

A week at ITC

High Speed I/O Testing on In-Circuit Test

Rooting out impossible bugs

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