WHITAKER@A.ISI.EDU (11/16/90)
ATLAS Meeting in Ft. Lauderdale FL (29 Oct-2 Nov 1990)
Report by William A. Whitaker
ATLAS (Abbreviated Test Language for All Systems) is an IEEE
Standard, a version of which (C/ATLAS, IEEE Std 716) been
adopted by the DoD and is specified for maintenance test
programs. DoD has been pushing for the use of Ada in all
applications, including ATE. The IEEE ATLAS standards
committee set up an "ABET" (ATLAS/Ada Based Environment for
Test) working group to develop the Ada binding for ATLAS.
The ABET Requirements document now appears to be well
established and stable. A Rationale document has been
established and an architecture document is well along under
development.
Technical code work has now begun in earnest. The ATLAS
Interface Working Group, developing the Ada specs that
correspond to ATLAS semantics, is making progress. There is
a Working Draft 2.00, assembled by Jeudha Ziegler of ITT
under STARS sponsorship, to comment against. For the
ATLAS/Ada WG a system for handling technical issues, similar
to Ada AIs, has been set up to document the development. 50
issues were processed at this meeting. The mapping of ATLAS
features into ABET has begun. The other binding effort, for
the ATE System Layer, has established its direction. The
next ABET meeting should provide a sketch of the eventual
product. I might hope for a working prototype demonstration
by May, but I am always optimistic.
Further meetings of the ABET subcommittee already scheduled:
Washington (Tyson's Corner, VA, Hilton) February 5-7, and
Germany in May of 1991. There has still been no
participation in the Working Groups from the Ada community.
The work of the binding groups is entirely Ada, only Ada
code is being produced, there are not going to be any
changes to ATLAS. The Committee is insufficiently
staffed in Ada experts. Since I am ABET Liaison to the
Ada community, it must be all my fault.
The Air Force has selected and is funding several
contractors to participate in an Air Force ABET Technical
Advisory Group (ATAG). This Group is to develop proposals
for the ABET Committee.
The Chairman of ABET is Richard Weger, AAI Corp, PO Box 126,
Hunt Valley, MD 21030-0126, (301) 628-3634.
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