A self test adapter (STA) for automatic test equipment (ATE) is provided. The STA includes an enclosure. A backplane is housed by the enclosure. A dual data bus is integrated into the backplane. At least one STA card module is inserted into the backplane. The at least one STA card module has a port for interconnection with an ATE station receiver. The at least one STA card module includes a generic region adapted for interfacing with an additional STA card module over the dual data bus, and a resource specific region adapted for self test of at least one ATE station resource.