The ATF was developed on the premise that there is a distinct pattern that guides the workings of an analysis tool independent of the specific requirements and capabilities of the tool itself. The core parts of this pattern are data processing and manipulation, data interpretation and analysis, and analysis results formatting and display. A tool framework that models this pattern allows for developers to leverage code already within the framework and focus on the core features of the emerging tool.
The ATF models this pattern by providing developers a library of uniformly formatted object oriented data processing, automated analysis, and data display classes. ATF also provides for connections to configuration and enumeration databases to allow for extension and expansion of tools through schema changes rather than code changes.
Leveraging the ATF makes use of an existing analysis tool capability that is inherently designed to maximize ease of extensibility via schema updates, reuse and sharing of existing modules via plugin capability, and incorporating powerful existing analysis tools to the framework by use of wrappers. ATF has been proven as a powerful and stable tool that is currently utilized to conduct test and analysis of both Aegis and Aegis BMD data.
