Product category: Design and Development Software
News Release from: Asset InterTech | Subject: ScanWorks version 3.8
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 17 October 2006
Boundary-scan system opens
up to third parties
Asset InterTech has enhanced its ScanWorks boundary-scan (JTAG) system, increasing its openness to third-party technologies and products
The new features are contained in a new version of ScanWorks (version 3.8) and make ScanWorks the most open boundary-scan system among any of the proprietary JTAG systems available today. 'What's critical to ScanWorks users is test coverage', said Reg Waller, European Director for Asset. 'The more test coverage ScanWorks can provide them, the better they like it'.
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'By opening ScanWorks so that it will function with technologies from other companies and third-parties we are extending the test coverage provided by ScanWorks and making it a more valuable tool for our users'.
ScanWorks supports greater openness through several new features, including external I/O management, which automates and includes a graphical interface for testing the structural integrity of signals that are routed off the circuit board under test through a connector.
To extend JTAG test coverage to these external signals, they must be linked back into ScanWorks.
This is accomplished with hardware I/O modules such as Asset's Boundary Scan 400 I/O module (BSIO-400), the AccessExtender family of modules from third-party JEK-Tech of Nashua, New Hampshire, or a module designed by the user.
External I/O management simplifies the use of third-party I/O modules by providing an easy to use graphical interface to assign test resources to the signals to be tested on the circuit board.
Further reading
Malaysian office provides boundary-scan support
Asset InterTech has established a Southeast Asian boundary-scan technology centre in Penang, Malaysia
Motorola standardises on boundary scan systems
Asset InterTech has signed a multiyear contract to become Motorola's worldwide supplier of boundary scan (IEEE1149.1 or JTAG) electronic test systems
System-level JTAG demo to prove concept
Asset InterTech and Firecron will demonstrate system-level JTAG test and programming in a proof-of-concept system at the upcoming European Board Test Workshop
Descriptions of the BSIO-400 and the AccessExtender are included and descriptions of user-defined modules can be easily created by the user.
A netlist of the external test resources is not needed, ensuring the test coverage reports include only the circuit board nets and pins.
Asset's BSIO-400 provides 400 JTAG test channels which can provide ScanWorks access to a circuit board's off-board I/O.
Each channel is controlled individually and can be configured as either an input or an output.
The AccessExtender family of boundary-scan I/O modules provides 100 bidirectional test channels at various voltage levels.
'My past experiences managing a boundary-scan test applications service organisation showed me that users need flexible and cost-effective hardware options which can easily extend boundary-scan test coverage while easing its implementation', said Joe Kadaras, founder and Manager of JEK-Tech.
'The AccessExtender family is one of our first product lines'.
'Another is a family of scan test cable adapters'.
Another new feature of ScanWorks opens the JTAG test system to the data mining probes of SigmaQuest, a supplier of automated test and quality data management systems.
SigmaQuest's systems gather information across multiple geographies, test technologies and the supply chain.
By opening ScanWorks to SigmaQuest's products, ScanWorks users are able to leverage consolidated business intelligence across their product design, manufacturing, supply chain and repair/return operations.
ScanWorks test and fault coverage data can be consolidated across all phases of a product's lifecycle, greatly assisting the analysis of failures and maximising a product's profit generation.
'We certainly appreciate the new ScanWorks features which enhance the openness that the system has had in the past', said Owen Tucker, Vice President, Marketing, of SigmaQuest.
'Not only does this benefit ScanWorks users who are able to incorporate our data mining and analytics into their operations, but it also helps our customers, many of whom are rapidly deploying boundary-scan technology'.
'Our customers are integrating test and quality information into their monitoring and lifecycle analytics'.
ScanWorks' advanced usability and automation features have made it the boundary-scan system of choice by practically all major communication and defence/avionics suppliers, including Cisco, Ericsson, Motorola, Lucent, Alcatel, Tellabs, Huawei, Raytheon, Rockwell, Lockheed Martin, BAE, ITT, Northrop Grumman, Smiths and others.
In addition, ScanWorks' adoption by companies like Microsoft for its Xbox 360 video game console and Delphi for its automotive electronics demonstrates that ScanWorks will continue its leadership as boundary scan proliferates in computers, set-top boxes, consumer electronics, industrial controls, automotive and other industries.
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