Fundamentals of Building a Test System: Hardware and Measurement Abstraction Layers

Hardware abstraction layers (HALs) and measurement abstraction layers (MALs) are some of the most effective design patterns to make test software as adaptable as the hardware. Rather than employing device-specific code modules in a test sequence, abstraction layers give you the ability to decouple measurement types and instrument-specific drivers from the test sequence. Learn how to drastically reduce development time by giving hardware and software engineers the ability to work in parallel.

Introduction
The design and development of automated test equipment (ATE) presents a host of challenges, from initial planning through hardware and software development to final integration. At each stage of the process, changes become more difficult and costly to implement. Furthermore, because software typically follows hardware in the development cycle, many open-ended items are left for the software engineer to handle. Good planning goes a long way toward mitigating familiar risk, but it can’t prevent every problem, especially in a fast-paced test development cycle where many issues arise at final integration. The idea that the software is more malleable than hardware, results in the phrase “just fix it in software!” However, hardware and software are tightly coupled and most issues typically require updates to both. This doesn’t stop with the initial deployment, but continues for the system’s life cycle.

The design and development of automated test equipment (ATE) presents a host of challenges, from initial planning through hardware and software development to final integration.