Lesson plan
Test point
. (labelled E34, E35, E36, …) next to teardrop vias A test point is a location within an electronic circuit that is used to monitor the state of the circuitry or inject test signals. Test points have three primary uses: * During development they are used to analyze hardware behavior. This allows characterization of circuit boards (e.g. power consumption, bus bandwidth), validation of the design and evaluation of component selection. For hardware with software components, test points are used to monitor bus signal, provide engineering interfaces and to force behaviors. Not all development test points are incorporated in production devices. * During manufacturing they are used to verify that a newly assembled device is working correctly. Any equipment that fails this testing is either discarded or sent to a rework station to attempt to repair the manufacturing defects. * After sale of the device to a customer, test points may be used at a later time to repair the device if it malfunctions, or if the device needs to be re-calibrated after having components replaced. Test points can be labeled and may include pins for attachment of alligator clips or may have complete connectors for test clips. Modern miniature surface-mount electronics often simply have a row of unlabeled, tinned solder pads.…
Article summary
. (labelled E34, E35, E36, …) next to teardrop vias A test point is a location within an electronic circuit that is used to monitor the state of the circuitry or inject test signals. Test points have three primary uses: * During development they are used to analyze hardware behavior. This allows characterization of circuit boards (e.g. power consumption, bus bandwidth), validation of the design and evaluation of component selection. For hardware with software components, test points are used to monitor bus signal, provide engineering interfaces and to force behaviors. Not all development test points are incorporated in production devices. * During manufacturing they are used to verify that a newly assembled device is working correctly. Any equipment that fails this testing is either discarded or sent to a rework station to attempt to repair the manufacturing defects. * After sale of the device to a customer, test points may be used at a later time to repair the device if it malfunctions, or if the device needs to be re-calibrated after having components replaced. Test points can be labeled and may include pins for attachment of alligator clips or may have complete connectors for test clips. Modern miniature surface-mount electronics often simply have a row of unlabeled, tinned solder pads.…
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.