PMBusProg Supports In-System Programming of Power-Management Devices
February 5, 2013. JTAG Technologies, a provider of board test and device programming tools based chiefly on IEEE 1149.x, has broadened its portfolio by offering a Power Management Bus (PMBus) IC programming tool that supports devices from vendors Linear Technology and Texas Instruments.
PMBusProg supplements JTAG’s existing range of SCIP (Serial Controlled IC Programmers) that are already used within the manufacturing processes of CEMs (contract electronic manufacturers) and ODMs (original design manufacturers).
Peter van den Eijnden, managing director of JTAG Technologies, explained some of the background of PMBusProg: “While the individual IC vendors generally offer their own solution for programming parts in-system, these are seldom robust enough for the factory environment, nor are they integratable into existing board test systems. By developing PMBusProg we were responding to customers' demands who were looking for a fast convenient solution that could run on existing hardware and be integrated into existing test platforms.”
PMBusProg runs on all DataBlaster controllers from JTAG Technologies and can be used to access PMBus pins via local JTAG (boundary-scan)-compliant devices or directly from an external DIOS (Digital IO Scan) module.
SCIP programming solutions were originally devised to program the embedded memories of microprocessors and microcontrollers that featured a JTAG or similar port such as BDM. The range has now been expanded to cover numerous other protocols such as those used by Microchip PIC, Freescale HCS08, and now PMBus. Where necessary the SCIP family employs Scan Configurable Interface Logic (SCIL) hardware interface modules. These are swappable interfaces that can convert a JTAG hardware controller into a protocol-specific device programmer or tester.
It is this modular combination of SCIL hardware and SCIP software routines that makes it easy for manufacturers of PCBs featuring multivendor, multiprotocol processors to configure a universal in-system programming platform for production.
van den Eijnden sees SCIP not as a single product but an array of support options that users can select to satisfy their device programming requirements. Use of SCIP functions allows customer to get more from their JTAG tools investment and increase the board coverage. JTAG Technologies will exhibit the new tool at IPC APEX EXPO, February 19-21 in San Diego.