WesTest-2000 DATS

Some time in the end of 2003, my department clinched a project to develop 18 test program sets (TPS) for the F-16 avionics. The test platform was a relatively unknown (to me) tester from WesTest Engineering Corporation, based in Utah, US.

A number of our senior engineers were selected to attend a training on the test system and by early 2004, we were already designing test fixtures and developing test programs using the WT-2000's TDE under Windows as well as running LASAR simulations with Sun's Ultra 5 workstation installed with Solaris 8. It was both challenging and exciting, and sometimes excruciating given the tight development schedule and little help available, since we were the only ones working on this new test system in Singapore!

Below is the book cover concept for the fourth and final volume:

If you've not taken a look on the previous volumes concept artwork, go to past posts and get a feel. Better yet, give me your support and comments as to whether I should proceed to write, or else these will just remain as still-born ideas.

Teradyne Spectrum 8852

Ten years into the company, the Factron testers began to show their age, and as more young engineers joined the team, we felt it's time to upgrade to new ATEs with graphical capabilities and development environment. Enter the Spectrum 8800 series testers from Teradyne.

Our center acquired two of these machines: an 8851 which is an in-circuit model, and an 8852, a combinational model which has an M910 digital test subsystem configured for functional testing, and uses the LASAR simulator to generate good test patterns and fault dictionary for diagnostics.

Below is the book cover concept for volume three of the new book series on automatic test equipment:

Any of my readers ever worked on this platform?

David Protzman

If you bought PCB-RE:Tools & Techniques, you'd no doubt know who is David Protzman. For those who don't, he is a senior research engineer at a company called Department 13 which specializes in counter drone technology. He also volunteers his time as secretary at Unallocated Space Inc, a technology-based community center that does collaborative education and research works.

Since I made reference to his works for the JTAG-RE chapter, it was only right that I acknowledged and gave him credit with a complimentary copy of the book. Here's his email reply:

The book arrived at the end of the month as expected. I have read through about the first third and have been very impressed with the depth and attention to little details that you explained! I will be working with my office to procure a couple of them for reference and training since we do a fair bit of RE ourselves. I have a coworker who is well known in a smaller RE field that I will be recommending your book to as well. 

Excellent work on the book, and thank you very, very much for the complimentary copy! And a big thank you for including my name and my work in such a well thought out book!!

You heard it from the man himself. What more can I say? :)

Happy CNY 2018!

Today is the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year (CNY) for 2018. According to the Chinese zodiacs, this year is the year of the dog. The eve of CNY is a time for family reunion in which every member will come home no matter where he or she may be, abroad or locally, for the all-important once-a-year reunion dinner at the home of the most senior member of the family. It's a good tradition that should be observed by every generation, more so with globalization where family ties may be stretched and spread thin because of work or study pursuits.

Here's wishing my readers:

Treasure the time with those you love and cherish, my friends!

Romance and the Engineers

Valentine's day and engineers don't seem to gel. That's because engineers often give people the impression that they are more logic than romantic. It's true that most engineers choose engineering because they love to create things or come up with ingenious solutions to teething challenges. No wonder an engineer is defined as:

However, engineers are still humans and not devoid of feelings or affections. Fact is, most of the time they are people in deep thoughts but capable of expressing their emotions, albeit in a different way. Go figure!

All in all, engineers are pretty amazing people. The world would be a very dull and primitive place without them, don't you agree? In truth, engineers are:

So it's time to change our perception of this breed of people, especially on this romantic day of the year.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day, my readers! ;)

5-Star Review from Down-Under

A 65-year-old reader from Australia by the name of Bob Dring, a retired engineer who has done much RE works, left this 5-star review on Amazon:

Books on this topic are as rare as hen's teeth.The first book The Art of PCB Reverse Engineering was mainly about RE techniques and ways to keep the extracted data organized. It was really well written and an enjoyable read. The latest book PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques is about the tools (hardware and software) that can be made or purchased to ease the RE process. Again it was just as well written and a good read. I've been doing RE for years mainly to help in the repair of undocumented products and yet I still found some very useful stuff in these two books. 

The reader should be aware that RE takes a lot of time and no book is going to be a magic bullet that will give instant results. However learning to be organized and to correctly document the results can be learned from these books and that means you get to waste less time. You can also reuse and expand a well documented partial RE when tackling a different fault on the same product. 

Have no fear of Mr Ng's English; it's really good!

Thanks for the strong endorsement on my books, Bob!

Factron S700 Testers

Right after my three-year stint with the RADCOM WSTS in the air force, I joined Singapore Technologies Electronics' ATE Centre and was introduced to a different kind of testers: the Factron S700 series, namely, the 720 (functional), 730 (in-circuit) and 750 (combinational). I also learned to use third-party test development resources such as the CADAT simulator and the CATS-10000 hardware modeler, to compliment the 720 in functional board testing and debugging.

Just for the fun of it, here's the book cover concept for the second volume of the series on automatic test equipment:

I still haven't made up my mind to write though. Unless readers can persuade me otherwise. Well, as they say, great things always start with a dream...

Rand Kruback

Not many people know Rand Kruback, a renown cartoon artist, but engineers who subscribed to HP journals would have come across his engineering cartoons at one time or another. The sequel book also featured some of his works to which I gave him credits, and sent him a complimentary copy in appreciation.

Well, he was nice enough to acknowledge receipt with a short note:

I want to let you know that I received your book. Thank you very much!
I am very impressed by the huge amount of work you went to in order to collect, organize, formulate, illustrate, etc. your book! Very well done! It is a great look back into the past… for a moment I thought I could even smell the old Kodalith prints coming out of the developer.

Rand still hasn't lost his sense of humor, and I hope he'll enjoy reading the book as much as I had the pleasure of writing and co-editing the contribution chapters.

New Series of Books?

I am still deliberating and hesitating whether to kick start a new series of books that detailed my experience and knowledge in automatic test equipment (ATE). I have been trained in various kinds of ATEs in the 30 years of my engineering careers, from my time with the air force to working in a home-grown defense industry.

Of the many test equipment that I've worked on, there were four that really stood out which I wanted to write about: the RADCOM WSTS (AN/USM-467), Schlumberger's Factron S700-series, the Teradyne Spectrum 885x and the WesTest DATS/2000. These are interesting ATEs that served their era in the electronic testing industry and each has its unique strength and technology to learn from.

To give you an idea, I have created the cover page for the RADCOM WSTS out of inspiration as the first in the series to write (if I decide to write, that is):

I know there are many ex-US Navy technicians as well as those from countries with the E2C aircrafts who had worked on this amazing piece of test equipment. They would probably be delighted to get a copy of this book (if it is published) and relive the good times and memories they had as they read the technical biography of a familiar old friend.

The question is: will there be enough interests to warrant my time and commitment to write it?

Grand Idea Studio

Joe Grand, CEO of Grand Idea Studio and one of the main contributors to PCB-RE: Tools & Techniques, has graciously endorsed the book on his website:

Thanks, Joe, for the much needed publicity!

Amazon Offer?

As of today, I've set the price of the book at $44.95 (10% discount, on account of my wife's goodwill) but Amazon seems to have its own idea on the pricing:

Not sure how long this offer will go on, so if you haven't secure your copy or are still hesitating, then you better act fast before it is gone...