Multifrequency measurement of testability with application to large linear analog systems

Abstract

With increasing electronic circuit complexity, assessing the testability features becomes a necessity during the design, implementation, and operational or maintenance phases of an analog system. A quantitative measure of testability, based on several multifrequency stimuli, is adopted which is able to handle multiple faults and may provide information also on the degree of complexity encountered in a specific test. An efficient and practical algorithm is proposed which is associated with the result of Sen and Saeks and has a well-defined interpretation even with a large number of circuit parameters liable to failure. The described technique is a basis for optimizing the number and allocation of the selected test points; furthermore, it may serve as an aid in functional partitioning of the same system to facilitate testing and/or reduce computational complexity. An application to a classical active filter is also given.