Modern technologies are biting off more than our test systems can chew

Despite billions spent on software in testing aerospace and high technology products, companies are still struggling to keep up with Moore's law and shorter schedules. This results in excessive software development, hard to analyze data, manual labor that slows the disposition cycle time, lower production rates, and costly errors in high-value DUT's. Modern technology has delivered a one-two punch for aerospace manufacturing organizations. The first blow is the increased complexity of devices; existing test systems are stretched beyond their capabilities and require major rework and iteration. The second fatal blow is the pressure on test organizations to release on extremely short schedules and budgets due to rising competition in the industry. This paper presents two key concepts to mitigate the effects of the new technology revolution on your test systems - Modularity and Scalability. These are not new concepts; this paper will, however, discuss what these concepts mean for test systems, and also cover how to implement and combine the them to reduce recurring costs and technical risk in your test organizations.