SPECIAL MEETING of TC-8 Technical Committee on Automated Test Systems and Instrumentation of the IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society -- Regarding the Proposed HIGH-SPEED REVISION of IEEE-488.1 Standard Instrument Bus -- OPEN TO EVERYONE

PURPOSE OF MEETING: In July 1999, a ballot was conducted on P488.1. The ballot passed with at least 75% of the vote. Negative voters had several comments on the draft, so the ballot was recirculated to allow balloters to change their votes. The recirculation included, besides the full text of the negative comments, a summary of the comments with rebuttals written by Working Group Chair Robert Canik. No one changed his or her vote. However, some negative balloters wrote a letter to the IEEE Standards Association complaining of improper procedures, primarily that the rebuttals to the negative comments were written by one person and not by the Sponsor Committee TC-8.

IN THIS MEETING, we plan to discuss the negative comments and the complaints of improper procedures. Attendees are encouraged to bring written statements on the topics and supporting documents.

FOLLOWING THE MEETING, those who wish to continue the discussion may do so on a web page discussion board for a period of four weeks. After the conclusion of the web discussion, TC-8 will draft, based on the discussions and documents, rebuttals to the negative comments. The IEEE Standards Association will then conduct a ballot recirculation. The balloters will receive all meeting minutes, written statements, and supporting documents.

MEETING DATE AND TIME: Monday, September 18, 2000. 1:00 to 5:00 PM.

PLACE: Autotestcon 2000 conference, San Clemente Room (Bonita), Disneyland Hotel & Convention Center, Anaheim, California. Autotestcon's website is at www.autotestcon.com.

RULES OF MEETING:

1) NO VOTE shall be conducted at this meeting on the fate of the proposed standard revision P488.1.
PURPOSE: At this point in the project, it is appropriate that only the official Ballot Group and the Standards Board vote on the fate of P488.1. This meeting has been convened only to discuss the issues in an orderly manner.

2) Motions changing the agenda or meeting rules or changing the wording of the latest draft shall be passed only by UNANIMOUS VOTE (excluding the Chair).
PURPOSE: This is not a regular TC-8 meeting but is a special open meeting. There is no control on how many will attend on each side of the issue. In order to fulfill successfully the purpose of this meeting, we must stick to the agenda.

3) Speakers shall be LIMITED to five minutes and may not speak UNTIL RECOGNIZED by the Chair, and discussion on a topic may take place only during that topic's TIME SLOT in the agenda. Time slots may shift back if discussions finish early.
PURPOSE: In this rare occasion when we are all together, we would like to address most of the issues and hear from all parties. As mentioned above, discussion can continue for four weeks on the web discussion board.

AGENDA:

PART I -- Introduction
1:00 Sign-in and state name and affiliation
1:05 Welcome and plan of action (J. Czapski)
1:10 Summary History of P488.1 (R. Canik)

PART II -- Complaints on Past Procedures
1:20 Summary of complaints and responses (J. Czapski)

Complaints:
1. Biased Working Group Chairman
2. Explanation of how Working Group arrived at each draft, including procedures, letter ballots, and ballot results
3. Explanation of 1997 Sponsor Ballot, including purpose, list of voters, and results
4. How was Ballot Group chosen? Can we have a list of its members?
5. Lack of meetings and communications since 1996
6. Lack of response since 1996 to inquiries and requests for documents
7. Draft revision numbers mix-up
8. Improper oversight by sponsor committee

1:30 Discussion of complaints and responses

1:55 Break -- five minutes

PART III -- Standards Issues
2:00 Patent issues
2:05 Different standard number appropriate
2:15 Speed increase not enough and not in demand to justify complicating 488.1
2:25 Consideration of alternative proposals
2:40 Lack of agreement with IEC 625 standard

2:50 Break -- five minutes

PART IV -- Technical Issues
2:55 Excessive complexity of state diagrams, cost and reliability issues
3:10 User required to configure HS mode and cable length
3:25 Data integrity issues, inadequate error detection

3:40 Break -- five minutes

3:45 Backwards compatibility issues, mixing with non-HS instruments or controller
4:10 Laboratory testing of proposed standard, especially backward compatibility

4:30 Break -- five minutes

4:35 PART V -- Other Issues

4:55 Closing remarks and adjournment

 

MEETING #2: ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of TC-8 Technical Committee on Automated Test Systems and Instrumentation of the IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society -- OPEN TO EVERYONE

PURPOSE OF MEETING: To bring TC-8 back to active status, welcome new members, plan new activities, and handle general business. We'll be discussing new directions to take the committee, exploring modern ATE architectures, modern software & hardware, and user interfaces, including non-military systems.

MEETING DATE AND TIME: Wednesday, September 20, 2000. 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

PLACE: Autotestcon 2000 conference, San Clemente Room (Bonita), Disneyland Hotel & Convention Center, Anaheim, California.

RULES OF MEETING: Meeting is informal.

AGENDA:

3:00 Sign-in and state name and affiliation.
3:05 State of the committee (J. Czapski)
3:10 Brainstorming, ideas, comments
3:25 Charter, operating procedures, other business
3:35 Subcommittees, task assignments

3:45 Break -- five minutes

3:50 Currently owned standards and related tasks (IEEE-488.1, IEEE-488.2, and IEEE-1174)
4:10 More brainstorming, ideas, comments

4:30 Break -- five minutes

4:35 Possible new standards, Recommended Practices, or Guidelines
4:55 Closing remarks and adjournment