Test program transportability using a common ATE framework

Transporting test program sets from one test station to another is a complicated and potentially costly task. Significant cost reductions are possible by sharing common software modules developed by other groups or reusing common modules from previous projects. The Boeing Company is a large and diverse company, often concurrently designing several large scale test stations for a variety of military and commercial customers. By developing a common framework the Boeing Company is able to leverage past efforts and knowledge into new test station designs with less effort and higher quality. The idea is simple, treat TPS transportability as another software module within the common framework to meet customer requirements quickly and efficiently. Having the TPS transportability code in modular form allows other projects to re-use software code that is developed, tested and fielded. For example, the military has a significant number of test programs written in Abbreviated Test Language for All Systems (ATLAS) following the IEEE-716 standard. Having an IEEE-716 ATLAS transportability solution in modular form allows the solution to be adapted by other projects implementing the common framework. The modular solution is moved over as a starting point for the new project; changes are incorporated based on the conditions and requirements of the contract. The resulting solution completes development, testing and deployment; the process continues indefinitely.