The best of both worlds: Merging the benefits of Rack&Stack and universal ATE

Test cost is and will continue to be one of the most important issues, especially in testing analog, mixed-signal and RF devices. When considering overall test cost, the key factors are low cost test equipment, low cost of ownership and low test development cost. Universal ATE (`big iron´) is associated with high equipment cost but its powerful SW enables cost-efficient test development. Rack&Stack systems, on the other hand, can be assembled from inexpensive components, but load test engineers with much higher effort for test development and debug. This paper describes a concept that promises to combine the respective advantages of Rack&Stack and universal test systems by establishing a versatile test platform in HW based on industry standards enabling modular, least-cost, application-specific configuration with a likewise standard based SW environment for efficient test generation and debug, inherently supporting virtual test and test synthesis from formal specification.