IEC TR 61926-1-1:1999

TECHNICAL IEC
REPORT
TR 61926-1-1
First edition
1999-10
Design automation –
Part 1-1:
Harmonization of ATLAS test languages
Automatisation de la conception –
Partie 1-1:
Harmonisation de langages d'essais ATLAS

Reference number
IEC/TR 61926-1-1:1999(E)
Numbering
As from 1 January 1997 all IEC publications are issued with a designation in the
60000 series.
Consolidated publications
Consolidated versions of some IEC publications including amendments are

available. For example, edition numbers 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 refer, respectively, to the
base publication, the base publication incorporating amendment 1 and the base

publication incorporating amendments 1 and 2.

Validity of this publication
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC,
thus ensuring that the content reflects current technology.
Information relating to the date of the reconfirmation of the publication is available
in the IEC catalogue.
Information on the subjects under consideration and work in progress undertaken
by the technical committee which has prepared this publication, as well as the list
of publications issued, is to be found at the following IEC sources:
• IEC web site*
• Catalogue of IEC publications
Published yearly with regular updates
(On-line catalogue)*
• IEC Bulletin
Available both at the IEC web site* and as a printed periodical
Terminology, graphical and letter symbols
For general terminology, readers are referred to IEC 60050: International
Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV).
For graphical symbols, and letter symbols and signs approved by the IEC for
general use, readers are referred to publications IEC 60027: Letter symbols to be
used in electrical technology, IEC 60417: Graphical symbols for use on equipment.
Index, survey and compilation of the single sheets and IEC 60617: Graphical symbols
for diagrams.
* See web site address on title page.

TECHNICAL IEC
REPORT
TR 61926-1-1
First edition
1999-10
Design automation –
Part 1-1:
Harmonization of ATLAS test languages
Automatisation de la conception –
Partie 1-1:
Harmonisation de langages d'essais ATLAS

 IEC 1999  Copyright - all rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
International Electrotechnical Commission 3, rue de Varembé Geneva, Switzerland
Telefax: +41 22 919 0300 e-mail: inmail@iec.ch IEC web site http://www.iec.ch
Commission Electrotechnique Internationale
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International Electrotechnical Commission
For price, see current catalogue

– 2 – TR 61926-1-1 © IEC:1999(E)

CONTENTS
Page
FOREWORD . 3

OVERVIEW . 4

INTRODUCTION . 13

Clause
1 Scope . 14

2 Reference documents . 14
3 Definitions. 14
4 Symbols and abbreviations. 15
5 Background information and history. 15
6 Relationship between C/ATLAS and ATLAS. 16
7 Current events . 17
8 Implementations of ATLAS and C/ATLAS . 18
9 Harmonization methods. 18
10 Conclusions .22
11 Recommendations . 23
12 Benefits . 23
13 Other languages and/or implementations. 24
Annex A (informative) Comparisons of 416, 716, and 626 definitions – 1984 to 1995. 25
Bibliography . 45

TR 61926-1-1 © IEC:1999(E) – 3 –

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

____________
DESIGN AUTOMATION –
Part 1-1: Harmonization of ATLAS test languages

FOREWORD
1) The IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of the IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, the IEC publishes International Standards. Their preparation is
entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with may
participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising
with the IEC also participate in this preparation. The IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two
organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of the IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an
international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation
from all interested National Committees.
3) The documents produced have the form of recommendations for international use and are published in the form
of standards, technical specifications, technical reports or guides and they are accepted by the National
Committees in that sense.
4) In order to promote international unification, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC International
Standards transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional standards. Any
divergence between the IEC Standard and the corresponding national or regional standard shall be clearly
indicated in the latter.
5) The IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
equipment declared to be in conformity with one of its standards.
6) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this technical report may be the subject of
patent rights. The IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected
data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for
example "state of the art".
Technical reports do not necessarily have to be reviewed until the data they provide are
considered to be no longer valid or useful by the maintenance team.
IEC 61926-1-1, which is a technical report, has been prepared by IEC technical committee 93:
Design automation.
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
93/93/CDV 93/102/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the report
on voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 3.
This document which is purely informative is not to be regarded as an International Standard.
A bilingual version of the technical report may be issued at a later date.

– 4 – TR 61926-1-1 © IEC:1999(E)

OVERVIEW
A common standard test language has been of interest to the electronics testing community for

many years. Such a common language offers a single communications "medium" for the

description of Unit Under Test (UUT) test requirements to both humans and machines, as well

as the hope for Test Program Set (TPS) cost savings through code re-use and code sharing

(just as a single spoken language would benefit mankind in international communications, or a
single computer programming language would allow "anyone" to read/develop/maintain
1)
TM)
computer software code). The Abbreviated Test Language for All Systems (ATLAS) was
developed, and is being maintained, to provide this communications " medium".

This technical report presents the efforts taking place, as well as recommendations/
suggestions to harmonize two differing ATLAS test language specification "dialects", to enable
a common use across two user communities
The evolution of the ATLAS language leading to the interest in harmonization of the two
dominant representations of this language today, i.e. C/ATLAS 716-95 and ATLAS 626-3, took
place in a technological time and context which the reader may find helpful and interesting to
know when considering ATLAS today. The following material provides a brief overview of the
technical history of Automatic Testing, Automatic Test Equipment and the Testing Economics
which existed during the time that ATLAS was evolving. At the conclusion of this background
section, a brief history of ATLAS will be included to complete the technological picture and
provide the reader with a context for assessing the ATLAS issues being faced today.
The need for an automated means to perform testing followed closely on the heels of the
explosive growth in complexity and functionality of the units requiring test. This explosion was
driven by miniaturization. More and more capability could be packaged into a single device in
the same physical envelope using less and less power and operating at faster and faster
speeds.
By the early 1950s, it became clear that a methodology was required which would allow faster
2)
testing. The throughput of units through a manufacturer's factory was being limited by a test
bottleneck. This was due to the large number of tests required for newer units being designed
and built and the limitations of the speeds at which a factory technician could perform these
growing number of tests.
In addition to throughput problems, other testing problems were appearing when testing was
done manually, including the consistency of test. The need to perform the same tests in the
same way every time was too often found to be compromised by the mood, mental state, health
and/or interest of the test technician. Additionally, there were qualitative and economic issues

involved. The quality of work conditions under which a person is expected to quickly and
consistently perform repetitive work with increasing rapidity was coming under question and
scrutiny, as was the cost of the human test technician per unit tested.
________
1)
ATLAS is a trade mark of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
2)
Throughput – the number of units per unit time that can be processed.

TR 61926-1-1 © IEC:1999(E) – 5 –

A final element to this growing problem was the increasing complexity of the tests which
needed to be performed. The tests and testing process reflecting the increasing complexity of
the units to be tested became more difficult to perform and interpret. This further exacerbated

the time and cost issues noted above by imposing a training cost to enable the technician to

perform as required, plus a need for higher skilled technicians who were more costly and more

difficult to find. The problems described in respect to the factory environment were being

repeated in the field repair environment. Many companies in order to reduce time and shipping

costs established field repair and maintenance depots. However, it was not long before these

field depots were confronting very similar problems. These problems were made more difficult

by the fact that the units requiring test and repair covered a broad variety of types and

configurations. This meant that the test technician had less opportunity to become familiar with
the traits and characteristics of a single unit. In addition, the field technician was at a remote
site, not a factory. Therefore, he needed additional support documentation to compensate for
the lack of access to the design engineer available at a factory for advice and guidance. The
field technician had to be supported by a large number of expensive spares so that he could
effect the needed repair. The expense of the repair, time and spares was at the mercy of the
knowledge and diagnostic skill of the repair technician.

– 6 – TR 61926-1-1 © IEC:1999(E)

Suppliers and users of Automatic Test Equipment (ATE)

The users
On the user side there was a clear dichotomy in the use and application of ATE. The NATO

forces were driven by the cold war and the perceived need to extract from technology its

benefits in order to support their defense strategy and posture. Production rates, production

costs, field maintenance and repair of what was arguably the most sophisticated of electronics

were issues that were required to be addressed. Additionally, the ability of NATO to train and

retain qualified field test technicians was under strain as local economies improved and

increasing numbers of trained technicians left military service.
Commercially the airlines faced increasingly difficult field test and maintenance problems.
Driven by concerns over safety, a far-flung set of test and maintenance repair depots and a
very difficult avionics requiring test and maintenance, they too began to seek alternative test
maintenance and repair approaches.
Other commercial enterprises, particularly those with broad markets and widespread field
depot operations were close behind the airlines in identifying the need for a new and i
...