System engineering considerations and methodology for effecting a cohesive functional/parametric testing strategy

The authors consider RFI (ready for issue) methodologies and techniques that can be used to effect a cohesive functional/parametric testing strategy. A number of functional/parametric testing scenarios are discussed from the viewpoint of assessing diagnostic accuracy, functional/parametric test correlation, test data maturation, and testing throughput. It is concluded that the key to establishing an effective and cohesive functional/parametric testing strategy is diagnostic information management within the context of the concurrent engineering process. Diagnostic information management enables more effective RFI testing to be performed at all levels of test. Specifically, diagnostic information management is the key to effecting more efficient (i.e. faster test times) and accurate (i.e. fault isolation resolution) test program sets because it enables the test strategies to capture the best features of both functional and parametric testing and use them in a complementary manner