Data Sheet

Configuration Options
OnceMPEhasexecuted,instructionsfor
furthertests,bothlocallyandsystem-wide,
aretakenfromalistofsystemdescriptor
itemsstoredinnon-volatilememory.This
listcanbemanipulatedfromtheinteractive
SystemDescriptionEnvironment(SDE).
Systemdescriptoritemscanbeinserted
ordeleted,orexistingitemsmodified.
Eachitemdescribesaboardtobetested
(includingthelocalcard),alongwithtest
andreportingcharacteristicsandatest
maskspecifyingwhichindividualtests
shouldberunonanyparticularcard.
Descriptoritemsforunintelligentcardsand
alsoitemstoinvokecustomtestscanbe
created.AMemoryDescriptorEnvironment
(MDE)performsasimilarfunctiontothe
SDE,butallowssystem-widedescriptor
itemsofmemoryareastobetested.
Thisflexibilityallowsteststoeasilybetailored
toindividualcardhardwareoptionsand
particularsystemmixesofcards.Deployed
testofGEIntelligentPlatformhardware
genuinelyfallswithinthescopeofatrue
COTSsoftwaretestpackage,avoidingmuch
ofthe‘testintegration’overheadsofnon-modular
packages,eveneasingsystemtestintegration
whennon-GEIntelligentPlatformelements
areincludedaspartofthetotalsystem.
BCS Operation
Tosatisfytheneedsofbothdeployedsystems
anddevelopmentscenarios,BCSisprovided
inaflexibleform.Forinstance,inthe
VxWorkstargetedversiontheBCSobject
modulecanbedownloadedfroma
VxWorkstargetshell,oralternativelyitcan
belinkedtotheVxWorksoperatingsystem
image.
BCScanalsobelaunchedfromthetarget
shellorfromanapplicationviainsertionof
anappropriatelineofcodewhichcallsthe
startpoint.Itcanbestaticallyconfigured
byaltering‘.h’filesandrecompiling,or
dynamicallyconfiguredatruntimeviaan
interactivemenu.Useofalltheseoptionsis
coveredintheuserdocumentation.
Configurationoptionsincludetestmasks
toenableordisablespecifictests,error
loggingactions(includingenableofvisual
indication)andBCStaskthreadpriority.
Typically,BCSwouldbesettothelowest
prioritysothatprocessorcyclesareonly
usedingainingtestconfidencewhenthere
isnodirectapplicationworktodo.
BCSisengineeredforminimumsystem
impact,atversion2.0imposingonly1.2uS
interruptlatency(measuredonaPPC4A
with750processor@250MHzand83
MHzbus).Periodicityofbackgroundtests
isconfigurable.BackgroundFlashintegrity
testsareaccomplishedsectorbysector,
butittypicallytakesabout0.5secondsper
megabytetoverifychecksums(dependson
processorspeedchosenetc.).SomeFlash
accesslatencyisimposedonthesector
BCSischecking.BCSprovidesacontinuous
warningofsystemproblemswiththemini-
malintrusionnecessaryforusewithopen
marketCOTSsoftwarecomponents.
BCS Features
• DownloadableorlinkabletoVxWorks
OSimage
• HLaunchedfromshellorapplication
• Staticconfigurationvia.hfile
• Dynamicconfigurationviainteractivemenu
• Configurablethreadpriorityandother
parameters
• ErrorloginFlashandvisualindication
• Call-backmenuforimmediateinvocation
ofindividualtests,inadditiontorunning
testsinbackgroundmode
• Logsandscrubssinglebiterrors
• Comprehensivemainmemorytest.By
dedicatingsmallsegmentsperbankfor
exclusiveBCSusage,andinconjunction
withECCcircuitry,allfailuremodes
throughoutallthememorycanbe
detectedwithoutdestructiveaction
outsidetheBCSsegments
• SystemanduserbackgroundFlash
checksumming
• NVRAMchecksum
• PCIbuserrorconditionmonitoring
• PresetPCIconfigurationverification
• Temperaturemonitoring
• Temperaturethrottling
• Networkconnectivity
• SCSIconnectivity
• Busmemoryprobing
• Real-timeClocktest
• Globalhardwareregisterverification
• Testsof8250-compatibleCOMport
devices
• AltiVecandFPUtests
• Customtestscanbeintegrated
DeployedTestSolutions
BIT Features
• Automaticinvocationofpre-configured
test set
• Layeredtestsforbestsubsystemisolation
• Interactiveconfigurationenvironment
• Interactivetestinvocationenvironment
• Objectproductrecognizesandruns
customPMCtestswrittentorecom-
mendedformat
• Visualindicationanddetailedresults
storedinFlashorsystemRAMforlater
analysis
• BITco-ordinatestestexecutionand
resultsthroughoutallGEIntelligentPlat-
formboardsinasystem
• 95%orgreaterfunctionallyverifiable
coverage
•Inadditiontointernalnodetests, 
optionaledgenodetestsallowthe
useofBITforATPaswellasdeployment
Bit Coverage Verification
Standardreliabilityanalysisfiguresare
traditionallyusedtohelpdeterminetest
firmwarecoverage.Eitherapartscountor
partsstressfailureratepredictionwillproduce
atableofthenumberoffailurespermillion
hoursforeachcomponent.Everyfigure
inthistablecanbegivenaweightingthat
wouldcontributetoanoverallcoveragefigure
forallpartsthatthefirmwareactually
tests.However,thismethodhasanumber
ofdrawbacks.First,datafromactualfield
failuresdoesnotalwaysalignwellwith
failureratepredictions.Second,sincethe
fullacceptanceofCOTStechnology,thereis
nowabroadrangeofsourcesofdataused
forreliabilityprediction.Anytestfirmware
coveragebasedonlyuponreliabilityanalysis
tendstobemoredependentonthesources
ofthefailureratedatausedthanonthe
qualityofthefirmwareimplementation.
Last,onlytheverylatestfailurerateprediction
methodologiesarebeginningtotakeinto
accountthesignificanteffectofprinted
circuitboardandsolderjointreliability.
GEIntelligentPlatformstillprovidestraditional
reliabilityanalysisfigures(generallytoMIL-
STD-217),whichiscertainlyusefuldatato
havewhenconsideringtheoverallsuitabil-
ityofparticularboardsformission-critical
applications.However,inthehighlycom-
mercialworldofCOTSsilicon,thismethod
nolongerfurnishesareliableorobjective
measureoftestfirmwarecoverage.More-
over,itdoesnotpredictfailuredueto
mis-handlingproblemsorinterfaceabuse.
Thiscanbeimportant,consideringthe
adventofCOTShasmeantanincreasing