It’s in our makeup as engineers that we want to test our newly received boards as soon as possible. We just can’t wait to connect them to a power supply and then use our test bench equipment (e.g., generators, oscilloscopes, switches or LEDs, and so on) for simulation.
But due to our haste, the result is usually a PCB under test lying on a crowded workbench in the middle of a mesh of test cables, alligator clamps, prototyping boards, and other probes. Experience shows that the probability of a short circuit or mismatched connection is high during this phase of engineering excitement.
Rather than requiring a mesh of test wires, it is often wise to develop a small test PCB that will drastically simplify the test phase. Here the ancillary board provided a clean way to connect a Microchip Technology ICD3 debugger, a JTAG emulator, a debug analyzer, and a power supply input.
Take your time: prepare a real test bench to which you can connect your board. It could be as simple as a clean desk with properly labeled wires, but you might also need to anticipate the design of a test PCB in order to simplify the cabling.—Robert Lacoste, “Mixed-Signal Designs,” CC25:25th Anniversary Issue, 2013.
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