Test object reuse: a technology demonstration

Automatic test systems are critical in design verification, manufacturing, and maintenance of virtually all manufactured products. The software used in these test systems is expensive to create and maintain, and can be a major factor in the time to market for products. Reuse of software is frequently chosen as the principle strategy to achieve cost and cycle time improvements. However, test program software reuse is not widespread. Object technology (O-T) is a method of designing and creating software that facilitates the creation of reusable software. The discovery of object technology by test engineers is causing renewed interest in reusable test software. Fundamental to using O-T for test is a common understanding of what a test object is and how to create test objects that can be managed and exchanged. The IEEE-1226 (ABBET) standards initiative is aimed at test information reuse. ABBET (A Broad Based Environment For Test) is defining a standard architecture for test including the definition of test objects and standard methods of exchanging objects. The ABBET standards committee is coordinating with related industry standards activities including the Object Management Group (OMG) and The VXI Plug and Play Systems Alliance. Several companies with an interest in test software reuse have joined in an informal team to demonstrate the use of the standards. This demonstration is intended to understand how to best apply ABBET to meet the individual business requirements of the team members.