BOSTON, MA -- September 17, 1996 -- Version 2.3 of Teradyne's VICTORY boundary-scan test software offers powerful capabilities for transporting VICTORY tests and diagnostics to virtually any design or test environment. This new release also includes a major enhancement to VICTORY's diagnostic engine, allowing test developers to use a combination of boundary-scan and fault-dictionary techniques to isolate faults in clusters of non-scan logic. The release of these new diagnostic capabilities commercializes work that Teradyne did as part of the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) Application Specific Electronic Module (ASEM) program to develop an automated diagnostic engine for boundary-scan testing on commercial ATE. First customer shipments of VICTORY 2.3 began in August.

"With easy transportability to any design or test environment, VICTORY 2.3 allows users to take advantage of boundary-scan technology throughout a product's life cycle, from pre-fab design verification to field testing of MCMs and other printed circuit assemblies," says Peter Hansen, VICTORY engineering manager. "And now, with the integration of fault-dictionary capabilities into VICTORY's diagnostic engine, test developers can approach 100% coverage of structural faults in boards that contain a mix of boundary-scan and conventional logic."

Fault-dictionary diagnostics

The fault-dictionary capabilities integrated in VICTORY's Boundary-Scan Intelligent Diagnostics (BSID) engine are based on Teradyne's well-proven LASAR V6 fault-simulation algorithms. Using a combination of boundary-scan test and fault-dictionary techniques, BSID automatically diagnoses failures detected in clusters of non-scan devices. When a failing circuit is detected during a VICTORY cluster test, the tester reports the failing patterns to BSID in standard Digital Test Failure Data (DTFD) format. (Release 2.3 includes a Failure Reporting Kit for converting tester-specific failure data into the DTFD format.) BSID maps the failure detected in the boundary-scan chain back to the cluster's primary outputs (POs) and combines the failing POs with failing scan patterns to produce a fault signature. Using LASAR's fault-dictionary search algorithm, BSID looks up the fault signature in the fault-dictionary database to accurately diagnose the faulty cluster.

The fault-dictionary database and data formats used by BSID are based on standard LSRTAP file representation, the proposed IEEE P. 1445 DTIF standard. LSRTAP can be generated by LASAR V6, making LASAR an ideal tool for cluster pattern generation.

Other 2.3 enhancements to the BSID module make VICTORY diagnostics more robust and easier to use in any test environment:

• BSID now has the capability to diagnose Test Access Port Integrity Test (TAPIT) failures as part of any VICTORY test technique: boundary in-circuit test, virtual interconnect test, and component or cluster test of non-boundary-scan logic. TAPIT diagnostics isolate faults in the 1149.1 architecture of boundary-scan devices and scan chains.
• A new Failure Reporting Kit, which converts tester-specific failure data into standard DTFD format, makes BSID fully transportable to other target test environments.
• VICTORY's graphical Integrated Development Environment has been enhanced to streamline the generation of tests and diagnostics for Z1800 ATE, guiding users through Z1800-specific menu selections and options.

Vector transportability

All VICTORY test modules generate test vectors in Serial Vector Format (SVF), which is fully documented and widely accepted by suppliers and users of boundary-scan test tools. (In 1994, a group of companies began meeting to discuss expanding SVF and proposing it for standardization by the IEEE. This effort is still underway.) New Serial Vector Format Processor (SVFP) software available in 2.3 automatically converts SVF into a generic truth table that can be easily modified to meet specific format requirements.

Release 2.3 also includes a new Vector Converter Software Development Kit (SDK) so that users can create their own conversion programs for tight integration with target ATE and simulators. The SDK, which includes a C-language Applications Programming Interface, can be obtained free of charge.

New file capabilities

A new file type, the Device Properties File, is available with 2.3 so that test developers have the flexibility to compile netlists selectively and supply required model data only for the devices involved in a specific boundary-scan test. In addition, the Device Chain Description File has been enhanced to support hierarchical boundary-scan chain descriptions, which are required when an assembly-under-test contains multiple scan chains joined by a chain-linking device such as the National Semiconductor SCAN Bridge or Texas Instrument Scan Path Linker.

Platform support

VICTORY 2.3 is available on a wide variety of platforms:

Personal computers

• Microsoft Windows 95
• Windows NT 3.51/4.0
• Windows 3.1/Win32s
• MS-DOS

VAX workstations

• VMS 5.2, 5.4, 5.5 and 6.x

UNIX workstations

• SunOS 4.1.x or Solaris 2.x
• HP-UX 9.x/10.x

VICTORY is available in individual modules for specific applications, or in packages to support a comprehensive test strategy.

Teradyne, Inc. is the leading supplier of automatic test equipment (ATE) to manufacturers of electronics worldwide. The company's Assembly Test Boston division is a major supplier of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) functional board test systems and software for the defense and aerospace industries.