NxTest and the development of synthetic instrumentation

摘要

This article explores the state-of-the-art of COTS synthetic instrumentation for meeting NxTest requirements with an analysis of the rationale, limitations and alternatives for specifying both new and upgrade class NxTest instantiations based upon traditional instrument specifications. You may have been hearing the term "synthetic instrumentation" used lately to describe a new test system architecture that promises to revolutionize the way we test products. So just what is synthetic instrumentation (SI), and where did it come from? The term synthetic instrumentation was coined by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Next Generation Automatic Test Systems (NxTest) Integrated Product Team (IPT) to describe a new test architecture that would support the charter of its group.