CASS factory integration

The Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS), primarily designed for use on board US Navy aircraft carriers, has been mandated for use by the Secretary of the Navy as the standard automatic test equipment (ATE) for all Navy field and depot activities. The test solution makes test program sets (TPSs) compatible from one tester to another and flexible enough to allow rehosting of existing TPSs, and it has the ability to incorporate easily new and emerging technology, and to provide for a complete support philosophy, not just a test set for one weapon platform. To minimize the cost of fielding newly developed test program sets, the Secretary of the Navy has also directed that, to the maximum extent feasible, contractors use the same diagnostic capability that will be used under operational conditions to perform factory diagnostics for units under production. The author describes the migration of CASS into the development and design verification, buildup acceptance testing, and final sell-off on a Navy CASS.<>