Data Sheet

10.10GFA-974A
GE Intelligent Platforms Contact Information
Americas:1 800 433 2682 or 1 434 978 5100
Globalregionalphonenumbersarelistedbylocationonourwebsiteatwww.ge-ip.com/contact
www.ge-ip.com
About GE Intelligent Platforms
GEIntelligentPlatforms,aGeneralElectricCompany(NYSE:GE),isanexperiencedhigh-performance
technologycompanyandaglobalproviderofhardware,software,services,andexpertiseinautomation
andembeddedcomputing.Weofferauniquefoundationofagile,advancedandultra-reliabletechnology
thatprovidescustomersasustainableadvantageintheindustriestheyserve,includingenergy,water,
consumerpackagedgoods,governmentanddefense,andtelecommunications.GEIntelligentPlatforms
isaworldwidecompanyheadquarteredinCharlottesville,VAandispartofGEHomeandBusinessSolutions.
Formoreinformation,visitwww.ge-ip.com.
©2010GEIntelligentPlatforms,Inc.Allrightsreserved.
Allotherbrandsornamesarepropertyoftheirrespectiveholders.
Specificationsaresubjecttochangewithoutnotice.
DeployedTestSolutions
tendencytowardssystemupgradesand/
ormaintenancein-situ.Theopportunityfor
humanerrorexists.
GEIntelligentPlatformhasimplementeda
programwhichdoesprovideanobjective
measureofBITsoftwareeffectiveness.On
eachparticularhardwareproduct,alarge
numberofnodesarechosenrandomly,
theneachisindividually‘stuck’highorlow
(byconnectingtopowerorground)ona
realboardonwhichBITisexecuted.Asthe
verificationrunprogresses,eachnodeis
stuckalternatelyhighorlowinsequence,
exceptfornodeswhicharenormallystatic
high(pulledlow),orstaticlow(pulledhigh).
Theequationn=N/((Nd2/t2P(100-P))+1)
relatesthenumberoftestednodesn,
requiredwithinatotalnumberofboard
nodesN,toachieveacoveragepercent-
ageP,withapercentagetoleranced,
andastandarderrort.‘Standarderror’
isdirectlyrelatedtotheconfidencethat
thestatisticalresultcanbeappliedtothe
wholepopulationofnodes.
Foranexpectedcoverageof95%with
aconfidenceof90%,thenumberoftest
nodesrequiredforatypicalsingleboard
computer(SBC)ofaround5000nodesis
calculatedtobearound165.Forsucha
board,GEIntelligentPlatformexecutes
atestcoverageverificationrunonthese
165randomlyselectedboardnodes–thus
ascertainingareal,‘operative’testcoverage.
Internal and Edge Nodes
ItisaprimerequirementofBITthatitis
abletooperateinadeployedsystem.
Insuchasystematypicalcircuitboard
assemblywouldhavesomeorallofits
interfacesconnectedtoexternalequipment.
OnamodernSBCthesecouldinclude
Ethernet,seriallines,SCSI,IDE,VMEbus,
PCIbusandothers.Itisclearthatalarge
fractionofthenodesonsuchaboardare
actually
connectedtooffboardelectronicsof
varioustypes,creatingdifficultiesforany
onboardtestfirmwaredesignedideally
toverifyallnodes,whethertheygooff-
boardornot.Loopbackpathsviawhich
thefirmwaremayverifytheseexternally
connectednodeswillbesystem-and
application-dependent.
Figure2belowdepictstheareascontaining
edgeandinternalnodesforasimple,
exampleportionofSBCcircuitry.Allnodes
involvedinasystemloopbackpath(rather
thananinternalloopbackpath)aretermed
‘edge’nodes.Allothernodes(whether
theyactuallyhave,inpractice,aninternal
loopbackpathornoloopbackpathatall),
aretermed‘internal’nodes.Thefrontcover
illustrationgivesaconceptualrepresentation
ofthissituationoverthewholeofatypicalSBC.
Inordertoallowthetestingofedgenodes,
GEIntelligentPlatformhasprovidedcon-
figurableteststhatcanverifystandard
responsesfromothersystemelements
suchasVME,Ethernet,serialetc.System
integratorscanusesuchtestsasareappli-
cabletotheirownsystemconfigurations,
increasingsystemcoveragewithoutthe
needtowritecustomtests.These‘edge
nodetests’canalsobeenabledforAcceptance
TestProcedures,avoidingtheneedfor
differentsoftwarewithinacceptance
testequipment.
Complete System Coverage
GEIntelligentPlatformoffersstandard
COTStestfirmwarethathasafunctionally
verifiablecoverage,co-operativewithall
otherGEIntelligentPlatformsystemelements,
andprovidingconfigurabletestsforveri-
ficationofboardnodesleadingtothird
partyorcustomerproprietaryequipment.
Webelieveno-oneoffersmore.
DetailedinformationonGEIntelligentPlatform’s
verificationprocessiscontainedinthebrochure
‘GEIntelligentPlatformBITCoverage:A
StraightforwardGuide’,whichisavailable
fromyourlocalsalesoffice.Thisbooklet
includesasummaryofmarketapproaches,
equivalencefactors,echotesting,headline
andauxiliarycoverage,andanexample
testverificationcaseforaPowerXboard
showing97%headlinecoverage.
Buffer
Bus
Internal Nodes Edge Nodes
Board Interface
Connectors
Internal
Feedback
Paths
Control Lines
To other internal circuitry
Interface
Chip
Interface
Chip
Bus
Figure2: Software Module