A paradigm of automatic ICT testing system development in practice

Abstract

In-Circuit-Test (ICT) is an inevitable process for sustaining the quality of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) in the assembly and fabrication process. Applying automation to reduce labor and preventing errors in ICT has been studying by academics and industries for decades. Here we demonstrate a robot centric ICT testing system that integrates the peripheral equipment, also including the shop flow control system (SPCS). The graphic programming software – LabVIEW exploits to integrate robot arm, in-circuit test machine, PLC, HMI, and barcode reader. Communication among the facilities and error handling are the main challenges in the automated ICT system development. Heterogeneous communication protocols and third-party devices with unique syntax have caused some programming difficulties. The challenge of error handling is that it might be on hardware, software, or communication. Moreover, these errors may have occurred at 5-6 different facilities with chain effects. The robot arm dominates the main control sequence from the test start to finish. As a result, a steady automated ICT test system with real-time status monitoring has presented. That assists field personnel in eliminating problems quickly and promotes overall production line operation efficiency.