XML TPS data exchange

Previous papers have clearly shown that current Department of Defense (DoD) Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) architectures are not designed to support the functional test strategies required by COTS/OSA avionics systems. Functional test systems currently in DoD inventory are not generic in that they are targeted to support a particular system. A generic functional test system is needed. A major portion of a generic test capability is the Test Program Set (TPS) development environment. Borrowing on concepts promoted by the Automatic Test System Research and Development Integrated Product Team (ARI), the Diagnostics For Acquisition (DFA) project is developing a Unit Under Test (UUT) TPS data architecture that isolates TPS data elements into a modular structure. The objective is to create a software structure that localizes the impact of changes to any of the TPS, ATE or UUT elements. Another goal of the effort is to increase data transportability through the use of commercial standard data exchange formats. This paper will discuss the DFA approach to developing a TPS data architecture that supports functional test while addressing the ARI goals. The paper also outlines the use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) for TPS data exchange