R&D reports Test: hardware Duran, J and Mangir, T 'Application of signature analysis to the concurrent test of microprogrammed control units' Microprocess. Microprog. Vol 20 No 4-5 (May 1987) pp 309-322 Kramer, R 'Testing mixed signal devices' IEEE Des. Test Comput. Vol 4 No 2 (April 1987) pp 12-20 Integrated digital services network (ISDN) devices pose challenges for automatic test equipment. Many of the functions performed by a single ISDN device were previously performed by individual ICs such as filter/codecs, UARTs, and network and microprocessor interface circuits. Network interface and design feature tests present significant problems. A system that successfully tests ISDN devices, Kramer says, must provide the necessary hardware as well as software tools for test program development.
Lombardi, F and Wey, C-/ 'Algorithms for functional testing of digital systems' Int. J. Electron. Vol 62 No 5 (May 1987) pp 707-732 Two algorithms are developed for testing and fault diagnosis in a functional m( del of a digital system. One is app cable to single-fault diagnosis in a .equential processing environment; the other exploits some of the same criteria on a parallel basis.
Nicolaidis, M 'Evaluation of a self-checking version of the MC68000 microprocessor' Microprocess. Microprog. Vol 20 No 4-5 (May 1987) pp 235-247 Paschalis, A M, Halatsis, C and Philokyprou, G 'Concurrently totally self-checking microprogram control unit with duplication of microprogram sequencer' Microprocess. Microprog. Vo120 No 4-5 (May 1987) pp 271-281 'Totally self-checking' (TSC) circuits detect both permanent and temporary faults during normal
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operation. A TSC circuit has encoded inputs and outputs which are selftesting and fault secure with respect to a given set of faults. The paper describes the design of TSC microprogram control units for bit-slice microprocessors.
Test: software Isoda, S, Shimomura, T and Ono, Y 'VIPS: a visual debugger' IEEE Software Vol 4 No 3 (May 1987) pp 8-19 Traditional debugging tools return character-based information which forces the programmer to perceive and locate errors based on clues hidden in the information. The authors have developed a visual debugger for ADA programs, Vl PS (the visual and interactive programming support). The debugger uses graphics to show the static and dynamic behaviour of program execution.
Seviora, R E 'Knowledge-based program debugging systems' IEEE Software Vol 4 No 3 (May 1987) pp 20-32 In software development, debugging incurs the second largest expense after new feature introduction, but the activity of debugging, apart from the development of debugging aids, has received relatively little attention, says Seviora. Artificial intelligence techniques are now being applied to the task. No such knowledge-based systems are yet used in the field, although experimental systems have been developed and are presented in the paper.
VLSI design Peels, AJ H M 'Designing digital systems -- SSI and MSI vs. LSI and VLSI' IEEEMicro Vol 7 No 2 (April 1987) pp 60-80 The availability of programmable hardware components suggests new digital design methodologies, says Peels. The paper presents an integrated approach to designing with LSI and VLSI circuits.
Books received Brey, B B 8086/8088 microprocessor: architecture, programming and interfacing Merrill, Columbus, OH, USA (1987) pp 539 Fairchild Clipper 32-bit microprocessor user's manual Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA (1987) £19.10 pp 487 Helms, H (ed.) Microprocessors: 1987 source book Technipu bs/Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA (1987) £42.75 pp 562 Indexed compilation of data sheets and application notes on 'the newest and most widely used' microprocessors currently available in the USA. Products from four manufacturers are covered: GTE Microcircuits, Intel, Motorola and Zilog.
Mitchell, R (ed.) Industrial software technology lEE, Stevenage, U K (1987) £37.00 pp 299 Selected papers from the 1985 and 1986 European seminars on industrial software technology, organized by the European Workshop on Industrial Computer Systems (21 papers).
Russell, G (ed.) Computer aided tools for VLSI system design lEE, Stevenage, UK (1987) £30.00 pp 202 Fourteen papers based on lectures first delivered at a vacation school at Newcastle, UK, in July 1985.
Uffenbeck, J The 8086/8088 family: design, programming and interfacing PrenticeHall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA (1987) £15.95 pp 640 Wilcox, A D 68000 microcomputer systems: designing and troubleshooting Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N J, USA (1987) £15.95 pp 603 Dr Dobb's toolbook of 68000 programming Brady/Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA (1987) £17.35 pp 392
Microprocessors and Microsystems