Automated configuration of modern ATE

Autor: Gilberto Garcia, William J Headrick
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine. 21:22-26
ISSN: 1941-0123
1094-6969
DOI: 10.1109/mim.2018.8423742
Popis: For modern Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) one of the common tasks is the process of re-imaging and re-configuration of the test station. This can occur due to hardware faults, disk corruption, or planned software updates. With the requirement of modern systems to also have Information Assurance (IA) updates, this can increase the frequency of re-imaging a system (as it may be more efficient to do so). This paper discusses some of the processes and tools which can be used to automate the process of bringing up an ATE system from the ground up, or updating the software on it. Since not all users or maintainers are familiar with various operating systems, software, and configuration; tools or processes to automate this task are paramount. Without automated tools the maintainer can spend many hours attempting to perform tasks which while seeming to be simple, may be confusing. There are many levels of automation to be discussed for automating the system installation. This starts at the basic operating system image which must first be loaded on the system. By automating this process and only requiring minimal input from the maintainer, systems can be configured quicker and in a more consistent manner. Additionally, once the operating system is loaded, there is a lot of configuration which must be done on complex ATE systems to ensure all the system software works according to the design. This configuration can be fully automated to again reduce the time and complexity of a system installation. There may also be configuration elements of the ATE software which must be configured for different systems (a software baseline may support several different configurations). There is also the situation of parts obsolescence which may require further specific configuration. Finally, there may be configuration required when replacing components of the ATE system during its lifetime. Each configuration step or process provides multiple possible configuration errors which can affect the operation of the ATE system. This paper will go over multiple processes, programs and procedures which will allow an almost fully automated installation process and prevent most common configuration issues.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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