ScanWorks® Board Bring-Up

Problem:

You need to bring up the first prototypes of a new circuit board design fast. If you don’t, the entire product launch is in jeopardy. First, you have to verify the integrity of the hardware before you move on to software debug.

• Fixtures for in-circuit test (ICT) and manufacturing defect analyzers (MDA) take too long to produce and they’re expensive (especially if you can’t use them again in manufacturing because of a design change)
• Ball grid array (BGA) and fine-pitch packaging on the board severely limit the access for test probes
• The board’s high-speed buses don’t allow probing
• Structurally the board checks out, but the boot loader won’t work or the OS won’t boot

Solution: ScanWorks

Now you can bring up your hardware fast with a software-based hardware debugger, the ScanWorks platform for embedded instruments. No fixtures. No probes. ScanWorks is non-intrusive. That means it verifies the structural, functional and performance aspects of your prototypes from the inside out. Not like external testers that operate from the outside in.

ScanWorks gives you one environment with multiple test technologies so you can methodically and safely bring up your boards quickly. Here’s how ScanWorks puts your board bring-up on the fast track:

• First, verify the board’s assembly with ScanWorks boundary-scan test. Root out those shorts, opens and assembly defects.
• Next, make sure the hardware is working and functional at-speed with ScanWorks processor-controlled test.
• Then, let ScanWorks HSIO validate the high-speed buses. Once signal integrity checks out, you’re halfway there!

Of course, board bring-up is a subtle and nuanced process. No two boards come up the same way. Since it has multiple test technologies in a single, unified environment, ScanWorks is flexible, scalable and configurable so you can bring any or all of its validation, test and debug powers to bear where you need them, when you need them.

Board Bring-Up Resources

White Paper: “Non-Intrusive Board Bring-Up: Software tools ensure fast prototype bring-up”

Check out these other ScanWorks solutions:

• Non-intrusive Board Test (NBT)
• Embedded Diagnostics
• High-Speed I/O Validation

Contact us for more information on board bring-up solutions with the ScanWorks platform.