Built-In self test : test solution for telecommunication systems

The technological revolution witnessed by the telecommunications industry is leading to the development of new applications, products and protocols, which in turn solicits widely accessible, highly reliable and high quality networks. To meet the stringent quality and reliability requirements of today’s complex communication networks, efficient test methodologies are necessary at all levels. Conventional test methodologies are being constantly challenged by ever-increasing speed and size, which results in high costs associated with test hardware, test generation and test application time. To meet the high quality and reliability requirements for complex communication networks, efficient test methodologies are employed at all levels – system/equipment, board, integrated circuits and so on. Built-in self test (BIST) offers a test methodology where the test functions are embedded into the circuit itself. The advantage of using BIST for complex telecommunication systems are : reduced test development time, low test application time, provision for at-speed tests, in-field test capability and high fault coverage. This paper explores the Built-in Self Test concept to test a telecommunication system off-line as well as on-line. The proposed design methodology is to detect and probably diagnose faults in networked equipments by incorporating Network Management System.