Connect - ASSET InterTech

Maximizing Test Coverage
By Alan Sguigna
Vice President of Sales and Marketing

When we asked the more than 500 engineers and managers who attended our “Maximizing Test Coverage” webcast what they hoped to learn from it, the responses varied widely, but a few topics recurred on a regular basis.

Not surprisingly, many attendees were interested in practical and specific information on how test coverage can be increased. In addition, a good number of the responses to the questions we asked during the registration process also wanted to know how to accurately, easily and reliably calculate test coverage reports, an issue that is addressed by ScanWorks for boundary-scan test coverage. (For an informative white paper on “Fault Coverage Reporting” by Dave Bonnett, ASSET’s Technical Market Manager, click here.)

Test coverage methodologies, such as the PCOLA/SOQ technique and others which were described by Arden in the webcast, were also mentioned repeatedly by participants. And, of course, many participants said that they would be attending because they wanted to stay abreast of what’s going on in the test industry regarding test technologies, test coverage reporting and the other issues.

Several questions that were asked during the webcast also uncovered some interesting information. For example, a healthy segment of the industry (38 percent) is using a test coverage methodology like PCOLA/SOQ, but the majority of participants (62 percent) indicated they had not adopted any test coverage methodology at all. PCOLA/SOQ was the most widely adopted coverage analysis technique with 20 percent of the audience saying they were using it.

A majority of respondents (58 percent) indicated they had not implemented any sort of analysis tool for developing test strategies for particular printed circuit board assemblies. And, when asked whether their test strategies ever excluded functional test because they believed they had achieved adequate test coverage with structural test technologies like boundary scan, a surprising 25 percent of the webcast attendees said that there were instances when they had enough confidence in their structural test coverage to drop functional test from their test strategies.

To read Arden’s more detailed explanations of the responses to the polling questions posed during the webcast, click here.

Covering Test Coverage

Arden, in his webcast presentation, explained how a strategic selection of test technologies can approach full assembly and functional test coverage. A rather comprehensive range of test technologies, including boundary scan/JTAG, automatic optical inspection, automatic X-ray inspection, in-circuit test, manufacturing defect analysis, flying probe test and functional test, were mentioned in terms of the advantages and disadvantages each technology had to offer.

Many of the inevitable tradeoffs involved in setting test coverage goals like the cost of test equipment, the effort required to develop tests, design-for-testability and others were analyzed during the webcast. At one point, Arden explained the very fundamental yet complex tradeoff between product quality and cost-of-test which is basic to the question of test coverage.

The overwhelming response to our webcast with T&MW opened our eyes to the value you perceive in webcasts or webinars as a communication channel. Based on the feedback we’ve received since the webcast, I would add that Arden’s very useful presentation met the expectations of the participants in the webcast. Of course, the topics that can be addressed and the information transferred during a webcast is always limited by the time you have available. There’s only so much you can explain in an hour.

Now that we know how receptive you and prospective users are to webcasts as a forum for effectively communicating technical information, we will investigate and begin planning for future webcasts. If you have a burning topic that you think should be included in a future webcast, or you just have some thoughts on webcasts as a means of communicating with you, please send us an email by clicking on the link below.

Click here to send us an email about webcasts.

And, just in case you missed the live webcast, click here to view the archived version on the Test and Measurement World website.