The technological revolution witnessed by the telecommunications industry i
s leading to the development of new applications, products, and protocols,
which in turn solicits widely accessible, highly reliable, and high-quality
networks. To meet the stringent quality and reliability requirements of to
day's complex communication networks, efficient test methodologies are nece
ssary at all levels (system, board, circuit, etc.). Conventional test metho
dologies are being constantly challenged by ever-increasing speed and circu
it size, which results in high costs associated with test hardware, test ge
neration, and test application time. Built-in self-test offers a test metho
dology where the test functions are embedded into the circuit itself. The a
dvantages of using BIST for complex telecommunication systems are numerous.
Reduced test development time, low test application time, eliminating the
need for very-high-speed hardware testers, provision for at-speed tests, in
-field test capability, and high fault coverage are some of them. In this a
rticle we present a tutorial on the BIST methodology targeted mainly toward
telecommunication systems, the test structures necessary for its incorpora
tion both at the circuit and system levels, and test implementation at the
higher levels of design abstraction.