KS8400B Test Automation on PathWave

KS8400B Test Automation on PathWave

Technical Overviews

 

KS8400B PathWave Test Automation built on OpenTAP ®

PathWave Test Automation software provides powerful, flexible, and extensible test sequence and test plan creation with additional capabilities that optimize your test software development and overall performance. PathWave Test Automation built on OpenTAP® is a modern, Microsoft .NET Core platform that can be employed stand[1]alone or in combination with higher-level test executive software environments through native C#, Python, or RESTful, APIs. Leveraging C# and the power of visual IDEs such as Microsoft Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, or JetBrains Rider, PathWave Test Automation is not just another programming language. It’s a platform for building rich test solutions and maximizing productivity with existing software development tools and infrastructure.

 

Features

Included with PathWave Test Automation are the OpenTAP sequencing engine, tools and plugins to accelerate your test system development time and test execution.

 

Product Summary

  • User interfaces

PathWave Test Automation provides a Graphical Editor that enables both beginning and experienced programmers to quickly construct multi-step test plans. Flow control and conditional operations are supported, along with parallel testing. Controlling and switching among complex hardware configurations are implemented using the Connection Manager. A command line interface (CLI) is provided for integration with other manufacturing applications and workflows, along with a full Application Programing Interface (API) to ease integration with existing software and to create custom solutions. Two versions of the Editor exist for support on Windows and Linux platforms.

  • Modular plugin software architecture

An innovative and flexible capability of the platform lies in plugins. Test steps, instrument/DUT (device under test) interfaces, and test results storage are architected as plugins. You can build unique test solutions quickly using the provided pre-built plugins or use, adapt and modify available open source plugins available from the OpenTAP ecosystem. You can also create new plugins to optimize your test application and enable re-use within your own organization and beyond.

  • SDK for test step development

PathWave Test Automation makes it easy to implement new test steps and plugins by leveraging .NET 6 and Python to provide an SDK for building all types of plugins.

  • Fast execution and test flow analysis

The OpenTAP core engine is optimized for speedy execution. Additional tools and plugins provide visualization, analysis and insights to maximize your overall test performance.

 

Key Applications

Applications for PathWave Test Automation span all aspects of product development from R&D to Manufacturing across a range of industries including:

  • Wireless Chipsets, Devices and Operator Infrastructure
  • Automotive & Energy
  • General Purpose Electronics
  • Internet and Infrastructure
  • Aerospace/Defense, Government and Customer Solutions
  • Semiconductor Manufacturing Infrastructure and Wafer Testing

 

Key Benefits

PathWave Test Automation is designed to make your test software development simpler, faster, and scalable as your needs evolve.

  • Simplicity

Why develop your own test sequencer when the OpenTAP engine and PathWave Test Automation Editor make it easy for beginning and experienced programmers to develop customized test sequences quickly and easily. Experienced programmers will appreciate the accompanying command line interface and easy integration with a variety of programming languages and APIs (C#, Python, REST, and others).

  • Speed

PathWave Test Automation accelerates test performance with fast test software development, faster test execution and straightforward test optimization. The platform makes It simple to progress from prototype to production and includes tools like a Timing Analyzer to help optimize test plan execution and analysis.

  • Scalability

The modular plugin architecture is centered around the lightweight OpenTAP core sequencing engine. Additional tools and plugins are provided to help scale your test software to meet your specific requirements – Timing Analyzer, Result Viewer, Editor and a growing number of other plugins from the OpenTAP ecosystem. You can also develop your own plugins to extend test automation capabilities, including interfacing with a wide variety of device handlers, measurement, and signal generation hardware.

 

OpenTAP Engine

The OpenTAP sequencing engine lies at the heart of the platform, designed from its inception for speed-optimized test step execution. Test plans can include simple flow control operations such as if statements, sweep loops, and parallelization. Complex setups including hardware from any vendor are also supported.

 

OpenTAP Engine

The OpenTAP Engine is the core component in the software. It includes a plugin manager that discovers and manages plugins (test steps, DUT and instrument plugins, etc.). It also controls test plan execution (list of test steps) and provides access to functionality offered by the plugins. This functionality includes logging, result storage and instrument communication (e.g., user-developed hardware plugins. The OpenTAP Engine also includes an API for controlling the platform from external applications, such as a 3rd party and legacy test applications, the Editor, or the Command Line Interface (CLI) allows for headless execution of Test Plans that can be run in any environment. The CLI can also be easily integrated into scripts and execution tools.

 

Graphic Test Editor

PathWave Test Automation Editor The Editor allows for simple and intuitive creation and execution of tests. The tests are stored in a single file as human-readable XML, easing inspection and version control. Various built-in features allow for high levels of flexibility including:

  • Built in steps for sweeping settings, logging, and parallelization
  • Easily enable, disable, and reorder steps
  • Single step through a test plan execution
  • Attached to code debugging tools
  • Creating External Test Plan settings to handle varying test types.

 

Custom Operator User Interfaces

Shown in Figure 4. is an example of an operator UI that can built on top of the core OpenTAP Engine allowing for existing plugins and tests plans to scale to high volume manufacturing. The platform provides an API to support creation of your own user interfaces for test operators to assess go/no-go, pass/fail, and key test result values.

 

Interactive Mode

A recent addition to PathWave Graphical Editor functionality is Interactive Mode that allows users to create dockable panels to customize the Editor user interface in support of operation in advance of full test automation. As users transition from working interactively to increasing degrees of automation, they can swap out and re-arrange panels without need to write new code.