Dynamically configurable switch for distributed test lab

A system for facilitating a distributed test lab, comprising:

• a first switch residing in a first test lab, wherein the first switch
• is coupled to a network,
• comprises a plurality of upstream ports, and
• is dynamically configurable to establish a logical connection between any upstream port and the network;
• one or more devices under test (DUTs) residing in the first test lab, wherein each DUT is coupled to a different upstream port on the first switch;
• a second switch residing in a second test lab, wherein the second test lab is located remotely from the first test lab, and wherein the second switch
• is coupled to the network,
• comprises a plurality of downstream ports, and
• is dynamically configurable to establish a logical connection between any downstream port and the network;
• one or more host devices residing in the second test lab, wherein each host device is coupled to a different downstream port on the second switch;
• and
• a test controller device coupled to the network, wherein the test controller device dynamically controls the configuration of the first switch and second switch by communicating with said switches over the network via a first communication protocol, wherein said protocol serves to establish a logical connection across the network between a particular DUT residing in the first test lab and a particular host device residing in the second test lab.

A dynamically configurable switch for establishing connections between a plurality of devices, comprising:

• a plurality of upstream ports, wherein,
• one or more of the upstream ports are each coupled to a different device under test (DUT), and
• one or more of the upstream ports are each coupled to a different servo unit, wherein each servo unit comprises a servo motor control interface and one or more servo motors, each servo motor being electrically coupled to the servo motor control interface and mechanically coupled to a particular DUT;
• a plurality of downstream ports, wherein one or more of the downstream ports are each coupled to a different host device;
• a switch fabric dynamically configurable to establish a point-to-point electrical connection between any upstream port and any downstream port, wherein,
• the switch fabric comprises a data switch fabric and a power distribution switch fabric,
• the data switch fabric is coupled to a group of upstream data signals emanating from each upstream port, said upstream data signals carrying data traffic to and from the DUTs coupled to the upstream ports,
• the data switch fabric is coupled to a group of downstream data signals emanating from each downstream port, said downstream data signals carrying data traffic to and from the host devices coupled to the downstream ports,
• the data switch fabric is dynamically configurable to establish a point-to-point electrical connection between the upstream data signals emanating from any upstream port and the downstream data signals emanating from any downstream port,
• the power distribution switch fabric is coupled to one or more upstream power signals emanating from each upstream port and one or more downstream power signals emanating from each downstream port, and
• the power distribution switch fabric is dynamically configurable to establish a point-to-point electrical connection between the upstream power signals emanating from any upstream port and the downstream power signals emanating from any downstream port, said dynamic configuration operating in tandem with the dynamic configuration of the data switch fabric such that the upstream data signals and power signals emanating from a particular upstream port are connected as a pair to the downstream data signals and power signals emanating from a particular downstream port;
• a computing device coupled to the switch fabric, said coupling comprising a data channel between the data switch fabric and the computing device, wherein,
• the data channel provides the computing device with access to the upstream data signals emanating from each upstream port and access to the downstream data signals emanating from each downstream port, and
• the data channel is used by the computing device to send servo motor control commands to the servo motor control interface of each servo unit, said commands serving to dynamically control each servo unit's servo motors in order to perform an automated series of prescribed mechanical actions on the particular DUT coupled to said motors;
• and
• a network port coupled to the computing device, wherein upon receiving a command over the network port to connect a particular DUT to a particular host device, the computing device dynamically configures the switch fabric to connect the particular upstream port which is coupled to the particular DUT to the particular downstream port which is coupled to the particular host device.