The Self-Testing Board
A board that runs its own bring-up and reports what failed.
Concept / Design-for-testThe question
What if every board we ship ran its own bring-up sequence at first power and reported which test failed, instead of handing someone a multimeter and a schematic?
Where it stands
Nothing built. The idea is a standard test harness — rail checks, a continuity sweep on known nets, a peripheral self-test — designed in from the schematic rather than bolted on afterwards. The hard part is not the firmware; it is deciding which tests are worth the pins and the board area they cost.
Logged after a client bring-up took three days to find a single unpopulated resistor.
Sketched a minimum test set. Needs roughly six spare pins.
Still open. Would fit naturally into the next turn-key engagement.
Fold it into the next turn-key build as a real requirement rather than treating it as a side project.