Running BASIC test programs in a C/ATLAS test environment

The Swedish Air Force has several hundred BASIC test programs which are executed in old HP-1000 based ATE systems-some more than 20 years old. We have now developed a method to move those old BASIC test programs into the modern JAS-ATE system-with virtually no changes to the Test Program Package (TPP) and the Interface Test Adapter (ITA). We have developed a BASIC interpreter that produces the same run time code as the C/ATLAS interpreter does. And the use of an Intermediate Interface Test Adapter (I²TA) makes the move from the old ATE to the JAS-ATE very fast. As a side effect we now can mix test modules written in C/ATLAS, BASIC and C in the same test program. This method also gives the advantage of portability to any ATE as long as the test object signal requirements are fulfilled