Testing electronic products

The availability of more complex functional capability and an increasing expectation of product excellence by the customer require that electronic assemblies used in consumer oriented products such as transportation and appliance products have a much higher level of test assurance than the parts and functions they are replacing. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss an electronic product development flow which achieves simultaneous test development as an essential part of product development. Specific formal actions are described in their relation to design reviews, design audits and reliability audits. These are employed as a part of test program milestone approval to assure that product and test capabilities at that point in development are reviewed. The result of carrying out these activities is that the testing functions are developed in parallel with the product design on an interactive basis. In summary, the product design and the product requirements dictate the testing requirements.