ITC 2008: Asset joins in-Sync program, touts remote JTAG controller

-- Test & Measurement World, 11/3/2008 10:12:00 AM

Asset InterTech at the International Test Conference said it has joined Synopsys's in-Sync program for third-party suppliers of EDA-related products. The company also highlighted its Remote Instrumentation Controller (RIC) family.

Joining the in-Sync program marks an advance towards Asset's previously announced commitment to deliver technology for embedded instrumentation tools. Synopsys will supply Asset engineers with products to synthesize and verify chip-level DFT-related structures. Asset will verify interoperability between ASSET's ScanWorks embedded instrumentation platform and Synopsys' TetraMAX automatic test pattern generator (ATPG), TetraMAX DSMTest, DFT MAX compression, BSD Compiler boundary scan, and VCS MX mixed Verilog and VHDL simulator.

"Asset's access to the Synopsys Galaxy test solution will help ensure robust flows for mutual customers of our boundary-scan capabilities and Asset's board-level testing and debugging solution," said Gal Hasson, senior director of marketing at Synopsys. "As process geometries shrink and designs become more complex, customers will benefit from greater automation between our DFT MAX compression and ASSET's ScanWorks for the entire boundary-scan based testing flow."

"As the need for embedded instrumentation becomes more acute in the industry, it is incumbent upon us to support and interoperate with those tools that chip designers are using to insert this instrumentation," said Alan Sguigna, VP of sales and marketing for Asset. "Then chip and circuit-board designers, manufacturing engineers, and even field-service personnel will be able to use ScanWorks to access, automate, and analyze embedded instrumentation throughout a system's entire lifecycle."

Boundary scan over Internet

Asset at the ITC also highlighted its new Remote Instrumentation Controller (RIC) family, which applies JTAG/boundary-scan tests directly over the Internet. The first member of the family, the RIC-1000 controller, connects locally to a circuit board or other unit under test (UUT) and remotely over Ethernet to an Asset ScanWorks embedded instrumentation platform.

"The World Wide Web changed the way we live and work. On a smaller scale, we believe that our Remote Instrumentation Controller family will do the same sort of thing for design validation, test, and debug," said Sguigna. "We've added another dimension to test by placing it outside of place and time. And, in terms of cost-effectiveness, the RIC family gives both large and small companies the ability to pinpoint their human and test technology resources wherever and whenever they are needed."

The RIC-1000 incorporates local intelligence and implements a client/server architecture in relation to a remote ScanWorks station. Each RIC can be assigned an Internet protocol (IP) address. As a result, a test engineer at a ScanWorks station in the US could apply tests via an RIC over the Internet on a circuit board being manufactured in a factory in Asia, for example. The first member of the Remote Instrumentation Controller family, the RIC-1000, has a base price of $5,995.

www.asset-intertech.com
www.synopsys.com