Robotic Test Probe

PSR proposes to design a VXI instrument that enhances capabilities of automatic test equipment (ATE) to prove printed circuit board (PCB) mounted test points (TP) including ultra fine pitch surface mount component leads. The proposed instrument concept called the VXI Imaging and Probing Robot (VIPR) will automate and eliminate several problematic procedures associated with ATE systems such as visual TP identification and clip attachment, test program intervention and manual probing. The VIPR will enable a test developer working with LabVIEW to capture and display an image of the PCB undertest, identify desired TP and include them anywhere in the test program for 2 to 4 wire measurements. In the VIPR instrument concept the probe is mounted on a Cartesian gantry positioning system and is placed at designated TP transparently, reliable and safely by performing optical contact alignment at each TP before measurement. Using this unique approach, the VIPR achieves reliable operation to 50 um wide surfaces enabling ATE access to ultra fine pitch leads practically not feasible by manual means. All imaging, optical and control functions of the VIPR are integrated into a single VXI size-C board offering localized background processing and simple hardware/software integration into existing ATE systems. Compliance with VSIbus and Virtual Instrumentation Standard Architecture (VISA) will guarantee cross platform compatibility between LabVIEW and HP-VEE. Proven concepts, techniques, and experience are described, which show that the proposed instrument is practical. In addition, the VIPR shares common components to the proved PSR DLTIS which will reduce development cost and risk.