Feb 21, 2011 
The first of these is the addition of all instructions handling (including private instructions) within ProVision's JTAG Functional Test (JFT) capability, now giving users easier access to device registers [other than just those needed for IEEE Std. 1149.1boundary-scan operations]. For example, registers needed to invoke on-chip emulation modes and programming registers can now be accessed using JFT's Python routines.
The second enhancement is the addition of 'netlist type autodetect', which automatically recognises netlist formats as belonging to certain tool vendors. This can save considerable time when importing netlists from third parties. Thirdly, the WGL test vector format (as used for IC testing) is now supported through a ProVision plug-in.
When JTAG Technologies launched ProVision in 2006 it dramatically changed the way users work with boundary-scan. There have been a number of updates/enhancements since the launch, but JTAG Technologies is hitting 2011 hard with almost a dozen performance-boosting and time-saving additions.
Customers with current support licences for ProVision and PV_DST will receive CD17 as a matter of course.
New Hardware at Apex
After launching the highly acclaimed JTAG LiveT boundary-scan utility tools, JTAG Technologies has further bolstered the hardware interface support now by introducing the JTAG LiveT USB Controller; a single TAP, IEEE Std. 1149.1 boundary-scan controller.
While JTAG LiveT already supports the use of the JTAG 'cables' from Xilinx and Altera, as well as JTAG Technologies' own established range of IEEE 1149.x controllers, increasingly JTAG LiveT users have been requesting a dedicated, low-cost, connection system that works 'out of the box' with the JTAG LiveT suite. The new JTAG LiveT USB Controller is PC-powered and features a single test access port in JTAG Technologies' standard pin-out. It offers a maximum programmable TCK speed of 6MHz and also features programmable output voltages and input thresholds.
The controller has been designed for use exclusively with the JTAG LiveT suite of software tools (Buzz, Clip and Script). JTAG LiveT is since the successful launch last year the breakthrough product for design engineers to debug boards too crowded for traditional probing. The family consists of three products, Buzz, Clip, and Script.
Also new : Full-featured Value Boundary-scan Developers Suite
ProVision Designer Station offers complete JTAG development package
JTAG Technologies has also announced end of last year a new economically-priced software and hardware system for board-level and system designers looking to benefit from a boundary-scan test and programming strategy.
Boundary-scan, or JTAG, testing has remained a powerful tool for identifying assembly faults such as open- and short-circuits, missing components and damaged devices since its introduction (as IEEE Std 1149.1) in 1990. However, while boundary-scan tools have been in use for almost 20 years, the relatively high cost of 'professional' systems has meant that they largely remain in the domain of test and production engineers. JTAG Technologies' ProVision Designer Station offers now a low entry price yet retains key features such as automatic test program generation (ATPG) for interconnections and in-system programming (ISP) for devices.
It is ideal for the preparation of all boundary-scan test routines that might be used in the design environment and beyond. The tool incorporates a highly automated test program generator for interconnects that takes advantage of a library of thousands of non-boundary-scan (cluster) device models to create a safe [to execute], high-quality core test.
The Rapid generation and execution of this so-called 'Interconnect Test' using the handy JT 3705/USB controller, that is included with the system, allows the user to gain quickly confidence that the core boundary-scan to boundary-scan pin connections of a design are defect-free. And - ProVision Designer Station also includes a unique scripting library.
JTAG Technologies is a market leader and technology innovator of boundary-scan software and hardware products and services. The company was the first to bring to the market such important advances as automated test generation, automated fault coverage analysis, automated flash and PLD programming via boundary-scan, and visualized boundary-scan analysis. Its customers include world leaders in electronics design and manufacturing such as Ericsson, Flextronics, Honeywell, Medtronic, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Raytheon, Rockwell-Collins, Samsung, and Sony. Its innovative boundary-scan products provide test preparation, test execution, test result analysis and in-system programming applications. With an installed base of over 6,500 systems worldwide, JTAG Technologies serves the communications, medical electronics, avionics, defence, automotive, and consumer industries with offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. JTAG Technologies headquarters are located in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
