Evaluation Engineering - 24

DESIGN FOR TEST

design process must advance yet again
to keep pace with emerging technologies.
However, what will that advancement
look like?
Currently, teams in the design and test
industry work in a siloed environment,
and their software tools do not talk to
each other. Designers develop ad hoc
solutions to keep up with developing increasingly complex electronics, but this
approach is not sustainable.
Design complexity is only going to
increase from here, and that means it's
a pivotal time for designers. There is a
fork in the road for the entire electronics industry. Without a radical change
to the design process, the development
of electronic devices will falter under the
weight of the increasingly difficult design
task at hand.

Big changes ahead
The radical change that is necessary
to keep pace with advanced electronic

development is a profoundly new way of
looking at design and test. The electronics industry needs to embrace a fully integrated design-and-test process rather
than a siloed approach. Integrated agile
design-and-test processes reduce timeto-market and enhance productivity. By
breaking down the barriers between design-and-test teams, engineers can finish
projects more quickly, with less trouble
and risk. However, that is only a fraction
of the benefit it promises.
Using integrated design-and-test
software makes business more agile
and accelerates workflows by removing
bottlenecks like data transfers and file
conversions (Figure 1). Being able to design and test products faster also means
reduced development costs. These are
benefits any electronics company would
want. We expect our personal devices
to be faster and more connected. Why
wouldn't we expect the same from the
tools we use to design and test them?

A better path forward
Enabling the incredible advances and
innovations in 5G, automotive and energy, and IoT requires equal innovation
in the design and test processes used by
today's engineers. That innovation must
include the adoption of a connected design and test workflow. The advantages
of adopting this approach are substantial
for both engineers and consumers alike.
It promises a huge leap forward in the
development of electronic systems, with
benefits that are visible at every point of
the product lifecycle.
Anna McCowan is a software solutions manager
at Keysight Technologies.
Prior to that she worked as
a failure-analysis technician
in Keysight's wafer lab. McCowan holds a
B.Sc. degree in physics from Sonoma State
University.

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EVALUATION ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2019

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Evaluation Engineering

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