R. V a v a s s o r i V.
A r q e l e r i
This paper presents SGIH, an EqeJA
-stem for functional test and fault
diagnosis of eleckroru'c devices.
In t h i s paper it w i l l be described haw
test benches based on the SGIH system
are used i n siemens T e l d c a z i o n i
connected one another to fonn a
testing line. m i
n g its activity SGIH
autmatically drives the cmplex set
of instruments that f o m the test
bench. By ocpnparing the actual value
read on the u n i t under test and the
values stored i n the KmxJledge Base,
SEIH detemhes the next action to be
executed.
%e -ledge &se of sm is fully
maintainable by the tester experts
w i t h o u t the help of the knwledge
engineers.
Expert Systems are the most diffuse
a w lications of Artificial
Intelligence and the most knmn
outside the circle of specialists.
Siemens !kleannunicazioni has been
trying for scane years to intrcduce
Expert Systems i n several applicative
fields and i n particular in the
functional testing area.
For such activity a prototyPe, called
IXlS, has been developed a t the
beginning, w i t h the aim of diagmsing
faults on line-boards which are
specific u n i t s of a thelephone
exchange. Afterwoxls, considering the
positive results frcan the use of m,
-
the activity carried on with the
developing of SFIH, an W.
for the functional test and diagnosis
of Modems 1 W and 64QAM, used i n
hi* speed 'ssions (140 M b i t / s )
of digital signals i n micmwave ra-
dio-bridges . %us the percentage of units passing
M a k n s 16QAM and 64QAM are made of two
sepaxate units: the moctulator and the
demodulator, both ccanposed of several
-
n
i boaxk with mixed
analog and digital circuitry.
me functional test of such cmplex
devices gave raise to the need t o
the operators w i t h same
Zktic helping tools.
!the f i r s t approach i n this sense
consisted of a test bench w i t h a
personal ccinpter mnaging the
instruments and helping the operator
to carry cut the correct sequence of
settings of the cmponents and check
measures prescribed by the testing
procecture. myway when a unit produced
an anmaly it w a s sent t o a tester
m who looked for the fault,
repaired the u n i t and sent it back t o
the test bench.
W i t h sm a step forward has been
made: in fact it has been possible to
integrate in the bench both the
activities of test and diagnosis
pmviding each operator w i t h a
-ledge base, or experience, which
helps him during the testing and
diagnosing activities. By intrcducing
SEXH not only the test bench does lead
the operator during the test but it
also leads him during the diagnosis up
to the firding of the faults and their
elimination. only i n case that SEIH
has not enough lawwledge t o solve the
pmblem, the unit is sent to the
tester e x p r t for the repair. When the
expert finds a m w type of fault he
can update the knawledge base by
a- new diagnostic paths which
beccane immdiately a camon
inheritance for a l l the benches of the
test line.
thrmgh the hurnan experts' examination
is largely r e d u c e d and is getting
lower and lower as new types of faults tobeexecuted.
arelntmdwd in the knowl* bases.
lheadvantagesabtainedbytheuseof - the user Interface Module, which
SEM are: h a n d l e s w i t h t h e ~ t o t h e
q3emtOr, the g-raphics and the menus
- a signifid redwticm of the an the ImnitOr.
mms3er of units deviated frrrm the
rylrmdl flm of test to be passed to - the mta Manager Module which
the berm3l of the tester m. maMges-data-amnrgthe
test benches and between whole
- keepins of the kIKw-hw: the
exprierce stored up during the fault
testing line and the Infomtive
systan of the f h .
diagnosis isn’t lost and can be
particularly useful to repair the (x1the d t o r of the workstation, i n
units QllLing back fmm the field. different W i r d m S, SISIH displays all
the infoxnation ne&ed by the aperator
-use of rKm e x p d z persannel not only a t any time.
for the test but also for fault l b r e are three win%ws always active
diagnosis. on the mtmitor:
- flexibility when facirg the fast - the windaw SEIH w h i c h contains, in a
changes of the pmduction plan: with textual form, the instructions
SFIH it is in fact possible for regarding the aperations to be
untrained operators to test and accarplished;
diagnose any kina of unit, provided
the cOrreSpOudent krnwleage base has - the windcrw Montaggio (assenbly) w i t h
been hilt by the the tester experts. the assembly scheme of one of the
boards of the u n i t and on it the
- testing mta ~ a s e and report hiwight& c a p n e r h the operator
generation: a l l the data related to nust intervene on.
the test, to the faults and their
repairs are stored by SEM. - the w h x b w Figure in which technical
Afterwards these data can be used for dram iud schemes are displayed to
statisticdl analysis of the faults help the operator to understand the
trenl. Moreaver SFIH uses these data instructio3ls of sE!I€i.
Y- to w = = ~ * inpmved
diagnostic paths accordmg to the ’Ihere are three further wirdows w h i c h
fault rate of the electmm‘C are displayed when needed:
ccmpoarents in the circuits of the
boards. -thewindawInstnrmentsinwhichis
the display of the
mstrmmt and on it the tolerance
mask and the signal that the operator
nust f i t into the mask, for -le by
setting a trimer.
SEIHruns on UMX workstations and is
amposed by f a x modules (Figure 1): - the wirdcrw i n which the

-
b i l l s of mtermls of the boards in

-
- the Irrstruments Manager mdule which the unit a ~ provided;
e
drives the instnrments V i a IEE-488,
W-232 and ather standard -thewindcklGuastiusedbythe
interfaces. 'Ibis mDchile sets the aperator to intmkoe all the data
PnperlY and mads needed to store a report abcllrt a f a n d
values of the measures. fault and its repair.
- the actual
the
Test and Diagnosis Module, i.e.
E x y r t System which
A different kmwledge base is
associated to each kind of device. It
-
1- the -ic strategy. is in practice possible to build a new
Depenaing Q1 the results of the )mkJledge base for any kind of device
masares it decides the next actions tobetestedwithsE!”.
 61
%e activity of building a new
knowledge base, or qdating an
existing one, i s carried out by the
tester experts without the help of the
knowledge engineers. ~norder to
maintain the knowledge bases the
experts are pruvided with a lot of
tools and utilities: programs that
check the coxmdmess of the data
inserted into the knowledge base;
p v that convert the files
contallllng the assernbly schemes and
the bills of materials froan their
original format into the sm format;
prqrans that the description
of correct signals f m a safe unit
and autwatically store it in the
knowledge base. Particularly
interesting is the - p that
gra~cally represent the diagnostic
paths in a binary tree form, i.e. in a
way representing the external
behaviour of SEI" when using, d u r i q
its diagnostic activity, the
description of fault diagnosis
inserteabytheexprtinthe
knowledge base. We are n m developing
the interpreter Horns for a larquage
by which an expxt can describe the
test and diagnosis procedures us-
high level syntactic structures. HORUS
parses the texts written by the
checks the inconsistencies
and procfuces the relative Knowledge
Base in the internal format used by
SFIH.
After the first p.rototyping phase
consisting in the d e v e l m t of the
system and of the )awwledge base for
the modulator 1- unit, SEIlI has
been teste3 in field and it has been
released with all the knowledge bases
for moctulator 1 W and 6 4 W .
'Ihe test benches are n m five, settled
d m according to the archi-
Shawn in Figure 2. The test benches,
which are forseen to reach the nmber
of ten in short time, are connected
one another by a EX€mNET IAN w h i c h
enables them to share SCBne resmxes,
first of all the statistical Data
Base.
m e Data Base is physically comeclzed
to a wurkstation called msrm, but
also all the other stations have
access to it in a transparent way to
store in it, in z x a l time, the
statistical data about the feud
faults and the nunber of tested units.
All the wpies of Si!IH running on the
stations have also access to the
statistical Dab Base to imprmre the
diagnostic paths according to the
fault rate of the electronic
cclmponents. 'Ihe printer is a shared
resource too: from every station it is
in fact possible to print the reports
abaut the statistical data. On the
Maste.r station the updating of the
lamwledge base takes place: this nay
information is irmnediately duplicated
in all the other stations thus making
the new knowledge available to all the
testing line.
The Master station is also connected
to the central informative system to
draw aut automatically the bills of
materials and the assembly schemes and
to transfer the statistical data into
the Data &se of the W i t y control.
, T l R J m OF "E KNNLEDX BASE
'Ihe SEIH J 3 p a - t System can be divided
into two parts: the former managing
the test and the latter mnaging the
diagnosis. 'Ihe test procdure is
essentially a sequence of steps
camposed of different operations of
setting and measures in order to fit
and verify the testing rquimwnts.
When a signal doesn't fit the
requirements a fault is generated and
the diagnostic activity starts.
As for diagnosis, after a first
analysis of the problem the deep
knowledge approach to it has been
discarded, E3rady et al ( 2 ) . The use of
a description of the electric circuit,
even if splitted into a functional
model and a physical one, Davis (3) ,
Davis et a1 ( 4 ) , Atwood et al (l),
Hamher (7),didn't fit because of the
presence of m y euristic aspects to
be taken into account during the
diagncstic activity. Such aspects are
mainly pxatical: for -le, the
amplexity and the time consuming of a
measure, the difficulty to reach a
pint of measure in the circuit, the
presence of loops and intel-depmdent
sett- and measures, the different
difficulty to replace a &date
 62
cclmpcplent i f soldered or munted on a
base. salle ather pmblelns are
technological: two narmw ami mar
ccaarectians Carl be easily short-
circuited thus charqing the mid
circuit, ju;pnpers
again chrgmg the c1I"wt, a great
e misplaced
density of ccnponerrts can present
defective solderings. Finally there
are also statistid considerations:
some aqmmnts have mre probability
to be faulty especially those c m that
have not been ewhustively tested
during the previous phase of the
In-circuit test.
A l l these apiricdl cunsideratims in
most cases carpletely overcopne the
rigoraus evaluation of the -oc
of the signals and its propagation i n
the circuit: in many cases the
searrhing and firrding of a specific
uncorrect signal is mre significant
than a sequence of correct signals!.
WE acperts' knowledge of the circuit
itself is extremdy qualitative but a t
the same time extremely efficent. %us
the efforts have concentrated to build
up a flexible system, easily
maintainable by the tester experts,
rpwerfUl-t-0 handle
loop5 of measures ard
able to take into a m t statistical
evaluations. 'Ihe adopted methodology
is based on the concept of LDcdLized
Fault (GL) w h i c h is essentially a
wrong signal in a specific point of
the circuit. A t the beginning of the
diagnosis the f i r s t GL coincides w i t h
the test measure which does not f i t
thetestrequirements and is called
the synptm. When kuilding a knowldge
b a s e t h e t e s t e r e x p r t c a n u s e a set
of GL's, a set of Measmes (Ms) axi a
set of Repairs (FP). A MS is ccarp?osed
of a reference to a point of the
physi? circuit, a set of
descriptions of the signal present i n
such point, a message file containing
theinstructions for the operator to
carry cut the measure ard a set of
commands to the Instruments Manager
Mcdule. In rn the signals are always
described in a qualitative way:
several qualitative values may
correspond to a single signal. only
one value describes the coLTect
signal, the athers correspnd to
different kinds of non-correCtness of
thesignal.Inmanycasesthestandard
set of IXJ values (OK, FAIIED) is
sufficient to describe the signal: i n
atnercasesitisnaoessarytouse
more specific values. One of the tasks
of the Irsstruments Manager rvlodule
(Fig. 1) is exactly to convert the
numerical data read
bstrmzb into one of such qualita-
f m the
tive values associated to the signal
and return it to the T e s t and Diagnase
mdule.
A RP is ccmposed of a reference to a
point of the *ice to intervene on, a
file containing the
=ions for the aperator abaut
the repair and the fixed set of values
(OK, FAIIED). Given a GL, the expert
can specify a set of measures and
repairs to be performed in order to
solve it and, a m r d i n g to the result
of measures and repairs, a set of
GL's. nJ0 different G L ' s
canleadtoasameGL: t h e s a m e G L c a n
lead to different GL'S acconling to
the values retllrned by the measures
and the repairs.
ll-e external behaviour of SEIH can be
represented by a b h a q tree: a
measure can have two different results
(the measuced signal is the expected
one or not) and two consequent
actions; a repair can have two
different results too: either the
fault has been renwed or it still
persists and the diagncsis must go on.
The G L ' s switch i s n ' t evident in this
representation but the binary tree was
c h m because it's very M a t e to
be understood and mnaged by the
*exPerts-
Anyway the diagnostic paths for a
given fault, i.e. the GL's h i m y ,
can be represented by a generalized
tree whi& is run through w i t h a
depth-first strategy.
The ba
- ' wasalso implemented,
i.e. the ability for SEIH,given a
solved GL which doesn't solve the
synptor?, to backtraa the tree
searchu7g for a multiple ncde ard
desaxd through the next unresolved
branch. Hmever this feature is not
actually used by SEX" because the
experts decided to make it t o restart
the diagnosis tree fm the root or
even fm sane steps baclcward in the
test sequence i f there are still sane
unresolved GL's along the diagnastic
path. Referring to Figun? 3, i f the
solved GL6 doesn't solve the i n i t i a l
G U , sE?H d d backtrack to GL5 and
 63

then descend thmugh GL7. The actual

diagnostic procedure instead restarts
by default fmpn a:
..- . ..
this second time
presumably GL6 won't be reached 1. A&nod,
because it has alreacty been solved, CAUSAL m m : "E NEXT GEDmwrION
thus the system will inrmediately try OF EXPERT SYSTEIG
the G7 branch. 1986 Ele. coPmn.Vol.60 No 2 180-184
SEI" pruvides each GL, described in the
knowledge base with a set of 2. -w,
probabilities linked to the different -REASoNINGIN-c
s y q t o n s that can lead to such GL. FAUL3 D W I S
When a GL solves the synpton, its 1988 A c t s X AAAI 443-445
associated probability is updated;
SEI" uses such pmbabilities to choose 3. Davis
a starting G L different frcw the DIZGJWITC REASONING BASED ON
-iynpton and, inside a particular GL, ~~ AND BEHAVIOUR
it is also able to select the nrost 1984 Artif.Intelligence 24 347-408
pmbable measure or repair to be
performed. 4. Davis, shmbe, -, Wieduxt,
*ley, €wit

-
D I A G K S T I C BASED ON D E S C R I m O N OF
mNcLJJSIONS mm AND mm0N
1982 Ads I11 AAAI 137-142

ming this first year of use, s m 5.

has pruved to be a useful tool f o r the ?HE USE OF DESIGN DESCRIPTION I N
test and diagncsis of -lex NXUWTED D W I S
electronic devices with significant 1984 Artif.Intelligence 24 411-436
impacts on both the ccst and the
quality of the product. 6 . Genesereth
'Ihe knawlec?ge bases for three mre DIA(;NOSIS USING "IICAI,
devices have been quickly developed by DESIGN M3DELS
the tester experts themselves and all 1982 Acts I11 AAAI 278-283
the seven available )awwledge bases
are at present frequently q d a t d with 7 . €Jan&Er
new faults and used to repair old USING sTRucIuRAL AND FUNCTIONAL
units caning back frum the field. INFORMATION I N DIAQJOSTIC DESIGN
For this reason, wether with its 1983 Acts IV AAAI 152-156
high flexibility and ease of use, S E "
is planned to be extended also to the 8. F.,IeMt D., D.
testing of large systems such as mmING ExPFm SY.STEm
telephonic exharqes a d to the new 1983 Addison Wesley Readings Mass.
generation of 128 TCM nu3derns.
Further impravements for sm are also 9. &ben, m, StLrzk
forseen: we are naw trying to desume SpErIALZZED .smATEGIES: AN ALTERNA-
the diagnostic strategy directly from m m m PRINCIPLE I N
the description of a physical circuit DDGNCXTIC F€DBI.E3I SOLVING
drawn cut frum R&D CAD Data Bases. The 1988 V I 1 AAAI 364-368
resulting diagnosis procedure will be
very inefficient but it will be useful
for very new devices for t&ich there
is no testing experience at all. cur
efforts a r e concentrating on a method
for integrating this automatically
build up knawledge base with the
euristic knowledge of the tester
m.
 64

L.AN

I OPERATOR

Figure 1: The SETH System

Figure 2: The t e s t i n g l i n e based on t h e SETH System

Figure 3: The GL's hierarchy