Linking diagnostic software to hardware self test in telecom systems

Author

Adham, Saman M I ; Brough, Ken ; Ecroyd, B. ; Foster, Stephen ; Soong, Paul

Author_Institution

Nortel Networks, Ottawa, Ont., Canada

Volume

37

Issue

6

fYear

1999

fDate

6/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

79

Lastpage

83

Abstract

This article presents a novel approach to telecom system design that links hardware structural testing to system diagnostics software. Issues related to access of the hardware test features in the system are discussed. Linking the built-in self-test to diagnostic software reduces software complexity while increasing diagnostic accuracy. Furthermore, the use of structural test features in a routine diagnostic test permits subcritical faults to be detected and recorded in nonvolatile memory, thus facilitating failure analysis. It can then be seen that the superior test coverage, fault resolution, and flexibility that access to hardware test features gives, will be beneficial in improving overall system quality and reliability

Keywords

application specific integrated circuits; built-in self test; failure analysis; software reusability; telecommunication computing; telecommunication equipment testing; ASIC BIST; built-in self-test; diagnostic accuracy; diagnostic software; diagnostic test; failure analysis; fault resolution; hardware self test; hardware structural testing; nonvolatile memory; software complexity reduction; software reuse; subcritical faults detection; subcritical faults recording; system diagnostics software; system quality; system reliability; telecom system design; test coverage; Automatic testing; Built-in self-test; Embedded software; Fault detection; Hardware; Joining processes; Software systems; Software testing; System testing; Telecommunications;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Communications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0163-6804

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/35.769278

Filename

769278