The test programming environment also adds usability features and 64-bit support.
Automated test stations depend on test executives, test sequences, and instrument drivers to perform functional tests on systems, subsystems, and components. Now in its 30th year, ATEasy from Marvin Test Solutions gets a facelift and a host of new features to help test-development teams get test results.
ATEasy is a test executive and development environment that lets Windows-based computers control test instruments such as measurement devices and signal sources. It supports just about every communications bus that that test equipment uses: PXI, GPIB, USB, Ethernet, serial, and others. Typical uses include production testing of military/aerospace systems as well as semiconductors.
Using a tree-based structure, ATEasy lets you organize tests into functions based on sequences in a way that’s like Microsoft Visual Studio. To control test instruments, sequences call instrument drivers. Many test-equipment companies provide drivers for their instruments. Since its beginning, ATEasy has let you build custom user interfaces that include controls and graphs.
ATEasy 2021 (ATEasy V11) adds several new features that lets development teams better organize projects. Even simple enhancements can boost productivity. For example, colored tabs (Figure 1) let you organize functions in a way that’s easy to understand.
The “beautify” feature can automatically adjust coding styles for consistency based on a set of rules. “Test-system development teams often have several people writing code at the same time,” said Marvin Test marketing director Jon Semancik in a conversation with EE World. “Some teams include professional programmers while others depend on hardware and test engineers. The beautify feature lets teams standardize on coding, which helps with debugging and maintainability.”
ATEasy 2021 adds support for 64-bit programs and drivers while maintaining backward compatibility for 32-bit DLLs (Figure 2), which are often used as instrument drivers. “Many instrument drivers run as 32-bit DLLs and manufacturers aren’t likely to update them,” said VP of software development Ron Yazma. Thus, 32-bit DLL support is important because many test systems, especially those in military applications, remain in service for 20 years or more. That’s another reason why ATEasy has maintained code compatibility throughout its lifetime.
You can find a complete list of new features in ATEasy 2021 here.
While many test development software programs have been discontinued or acquired, ATEasy just keeps on going. It began life in 1991 as a 16-bit Windows 3.1 application.
In addition to providing ATEasy, Marvin test manufactures PXIe measurement and stimulus cards, instrument chassis, FPGA cards, and instrument bus interfaces, to name a few. The company also provides system integration and custom test systems based on ATEasy. The company also produces a line of semiconductor test systems.
ATEasy is one of only two remaining LabVIEW competitors still on the market for test automation. Who were the others?
My first encounter with ATEasy was with version 2.0 running on Windows 3.1. Here’s an ad that appeared in Test & Measurement World January 1994 issue.
