IEEE Std 1641

Over the past three years, the IEEE Std 1641 Signal & Test Definition standard has been evolving and maturing. This year its first revision is set to come out. This paper discusses the changes and improvements incorporated within the revised draft standard and identifies how this standard has been integrated into other test standards, such as ATML. In most cases, the revised standard clarifies existing practices and removes inherent ambiguity. The new revision is now based far more on its XML pedigree, deferring its original ATLAS roots, whilst still supporting those legacy signals. The revised standard has also introduced some new components to better support digital and protocol testing. These new components bridge the gap between analogue and event signals, something that the original standard supported but did not provide any detail on. The revised standard now provides a comprehensive set of building blocks supporting analogue, events, and digital signals.