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Category: Non-intrusive Board Test (NBT)

The Limitations of ICT

Alan Sguigna
Alan Sguigna
  • 2:58 pm
Tired of that old bed-of-nails? Legacy In-Circuit Test (ICT) has been diminishing in value for a long time. Let’s explore some of the current technical issues with ICT as test access on new circuit board designs continues to disappear.

The Economics of NBT

Alan Sguigna
Alan Sguigna
  • 8:36 am
As testing with legacy equipment becomes more problematic, engineers look for better ways to improve test coverage, enhance diagnostics, and speed up test times. But an overriding consideration is the cost of test – are the new test technologies more or less expensive than older solutions like ICT?

The test stack

Alan Sguigna
Alan Sguigna
  • 9:20 am
Those of you with a telecom background are no doubt aware of the “OSI Network Model”, also known as the OSI pyramid or stack. It is a way of sub-dividing a communications system into smaller parts called layers. A layer is a collection of similar functions that provide services to the layer above it and receives services from the layer below it. A decade ago, the telecommunications test industry underwent a revolution when platforms emerged that could cover multiple layers of the OSI stack. Now, the same thing is happening in the circuit board test industry...

Testing 2nd generation Intel® Core™ microarchitecture (aka Sandy Bridge)

Alan Sguigna
Alan Sguigna
  • 4:16 pm
Some of you may have noticed Intel’s announcement this past week at CES of the new generation of desktop/mobile processors, the 2nd Generation Intel Core family. These processors are based upon a new microarchitecture at a 32nm process node. This increased level of density and functionality requires new board testing strategies...

Test coverage using multiple technologies

Alan Sguigna
Alan Sguigna
  • 9:17 pm
It is a well-known fact that manufacturing test strategies must involve a combination of inspection, structural, and functional test technologies in order to yield highest quality and minimize customer returns. But a new breed of non-intrusive, software-based technologies promises to disrupt legacy test solutions by guaranteeing the highest test coverage at the lowest cost. These technologies leverage off of the embedded instruments within silicon to achieve this goal in the following ways...

ASSET receives prestigious Frost & Sullivan award

Alan Sguigna
Alan Sguigna
  • 4:03 am
ASSET has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Innovation of the Year Award in the PCB automated test equipment category by Frost & Sullivan. This distinguished award is a tremendous third-party validation of ASSET’s embedded instrumentation strategy, and is based upon our drive to reduce test costs in the face of increasingly complex test challenges...

In-Circuit Test—heavy metal blues

Alan Sguigna
Alan Sguigna
  • 8:16 pm
Once upon a time, circa mid-1980's, surface mount technology (SMT) was becoming all the rage and it was widely reported that in-circuit test (ICT) was doomed! But lo, ICT had (at least) nine lives and would not die - the purveyors of "heavy metal" kept (keep) coming up with new innovations to keep the heart of the beast ticking…

Intel® Xeon® Processor 7500 Series (codenamed Nehalem-EX)

Alan Sguigna
Alan Sguigna
  • 10:11 am
The new Intel® Xeon® Processor 7500 Series (codenamed Nehalem-EX) is truly a leap forward for Intel server technology and forms the foundation for high-end clusters and supercomputers for years to come. Read our free whitepaper that explains how to validate and test these advanced platforms...

Test Pads on High-Speed Nets

Alan Sguigna
Alan Sguigna
  • 1:45 pm
Recently I read a posting from a well-known In-circuit Test (ICT) vendor defending the use of test pads on high-speed signals. I found this message to be rather amusing, since the prevailing wisdom is to avoid these to prevent signal integrity issues. The posting went something like this...
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