Reliability growth of repairable systems

This paper considers the problem of modeling the reliability of a repairable system or device that is experiencing reliability improvement. Such a situation arises when system failure modes are gradually being corrected by a test-fix-test-fix procedure, which may include design changes. A dynamic reliability model for this process is discussed and statistical techniques are derived for estimating the model parameters and for testing the goodness-of-fit to observed data. The reliability model analyzed was first proposed as a graphical technique known as Duane plots, but can also be viewed as a nonhomogeneous Poisson process with a particular mean value function.     

Development programs for one‐shot systems using multiple‐state design reliability models

Design reliability at the beginning of a product development program is typically low, and development costs can account for a large proportion of total product cost. We consider how to conduct development programs (series of tests and redesigns) for one‐shot systems (which are destroyed at first use or during testing). In rough terms, our aim is to both achieve high final design reliability and spend as little of a fixed budget as possible on development. We employ multiple‐state reliability models. Dynamic programming is used to identify a best test‐and‐redesign strategy and is shown to be presently computationally feasible for at least 5‐state models. Our analysis is flexible enough to allow for the accelerated stress testing needed in the case of ultra‐high reliability requirements, where testing otherwise provides little information on design reliability change. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004     

Optimal redesign decisions through failure rate estimates

To reduce the time-to-market of newly developed systems, manufacturers increasingly adopt strategies where systems are brought to market while system field reliability is still uncertain. These systems are typically sold under performance-based contracts, which incentivizes potential customers to invest in them despite reliability uncertainty. Such contracts make the manufacturer (partly) responsible for the availability of the system. Subsequently, when field reliability is lower than anticipated, the manufacturer may choose to redesign the system to avoid high contract penalties. Redesign is a costly effort which may substantially increase field reliability. Deciding when to redesign is challenging, especially because the initial failure rate estimate by the system's engineers is refined over time as failure data accrues. We propose a model that endogenizes the failure rate updating to analyze this tactical redesign decision. We study additive and multiplicative redesigns and show that the optimal policy has a control limit structure. We benchmark our optimal policy against a static counterpart numerically, and conclude that basing redesign decisions on the updated estimate of the failure rate can substantially reduce costs.     

灰色可靠性设计模型及其在机械工程应用

将灰色系统推广到概率统计理论 ,阐述了灰色概率公理化体系 ,研究了灰色概率密度函数与灰色可靠度计算方法 ,建立了应力—强度干涉灰色可靠度计算模型及其白化求解方法 ,编制了matlab5 3语言程序。给出了工程应用实例 ,并对结果与常规可靠性设计进行了对比分析 ,显示了本模型的正确性与可行性。它可用于设计参数变动对可靠度的灵敏度分析及其稳健性可靠性设计 ,有效地控制设计参数     

Linear programming and the reliability of multicomponent systems

Several problems in the assignment of parallel redundant components to systems composed of elements subject to failure are considered. In each case the problem is to make an assignment which maximizes the system reliability subject to system constraints. Three distinct problems; are treated. The first is the classical problem of maximizing system reliability under total cost or weight constraints when components are subject to a single type of failure. The second problem deals with components which are subject to two types of failure and minimizes the probability of one mode of system failure subject to a constraint on the probability of the other mode of system failure. The third problem deals with components which may either fail to operate or may operate prematurely. System reliability is maximized subject to a constraint ori system safety. In each case the problem is formulated as an integer linear program. This has an advantage over alternative dynamic programming formulations in that standard algorithms may be employed to obtain numerical results.     

基于FMECA的某型雷达系统故障分析

故障模式、影响及危害性分析 (简称FMECA)是提高系统可靠性的一种有效的工具。在雷达系统故障分析中运用FMECA方法 ,通过计算机辅助程序实现了故障分析的预测分析和定量分析。与传统的故障分析方法相比 ,该方法能够避免分析中的盲目性和主观性 ,可以获得更为准确的分析结果     

A bayesian approach to evaluating military investments in product improvement and testing

Two issues of frequent importance in new product development are product improvement and reliability testing. A question often faced by the developer is: Should the product be distributed in its present state, or should it be improved further and/or tested before distribution? A more useful statement of the question might be: What levels of investment in further improvement and testing are economically permissible? Products for which this question is relevant may vary widely in type and intended use. This paper presents a model for determining these levels for one such product—an equipment modification procedure. The model presented makes use of present value analysis to compare cost streams and of Bayesian statistics to relate the costs to various outcomes under conditions of uncertainty. The model is applied to an actual military problem and a method is described for examining the sensitivity of the results to changes in the prior probabilities and discount rate.     

高可靠、强实时分布式系统的切换技术研究

本文首先给出某高可靠、强实时分布式系统及系统的两种切换方案的简要描述，然后对切换技术的实现进行讨论；最后，在建立强实时双工系统的可靠性模型基础上，对系统的两种切换方案进行分析与比较。研究结果表明：对于本系统，机组级切换优于结点机级切换，且可以减少程序的复杂度，提高系统的可靠性与实时性。     

使用检查维修工作模型的建立

RCMA是制订装备预防性维修大纲的系统方法,可用度是制订军械装备预防性维修周期的主要决策目标,对RCMA七种工作类型之一的使用检查工作建立了以可用度为决策目标的一般模型,举例给出了模型输出结果的特征和敏感性,对几种特殊情况进行了讨论,给出的模型可用于此类问题的维修决策。     

A nonparametric Bayes approach to decide system burn-in time

Burn-in is the preconditioning of assemblies and the accelerated power-on tests performed on equipment subject to temperature, vibration, voltage, radiation, load, corrosion, and humidity. Burn-in techniques are widely applied to integrated circuits (IC) to enhance the component and system reliability. However, reliability prediction by burn-in at the component level, such as the one using the military (e.g., MIL-STD-280A, 756B, 217E [23–25]) and the industrial standards (e.g., the JEDEC standards), is usually not consistent with the field observations. Here, we propose system burn-in, which can remove many of the residual defects left from component and subsystem burn-in (Chien and Kuo [6]). A nonparametric model is considered because 1) the system configuration is usually very complicated, 2) the components in the system have different failure mechanisms, and 3) there is no good model for modeling incompatibility among components and subsystems (Chien and Kuo [5]; Kuo [16]). Since the cost of testing a system is high and, thus, only small samples are available, a Bayesian nonparametric approach is proposed to determine the system burn-in time. A case study using the proposed approach on MCM ASIC's shows that our model can be applied in the cases where 1) the tests and the samples are expensive, and 2) the records of previous generation of the products can provide information on the failure rate of the system under investigation. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 44: 655–671, 1997     

Repairable consecutive‐k‐out‐of‐n: F system with Markov dependence

In this article, a model for a repairable consecutive‐k‐out‐of‐n: F system with Markov dependence is studied. A binary vector is used to represent the system state. The failure rate of a component in the system depends on the state of the preceding component. The failure risk of a system state is then introduced. On the basis of the failure risk, a priority repair rule is adopted. Then the transition density matrix can be determined, and the analysis of the system reliability can be conducted accordingly. One example each of a linear and a circular system is then studied in detail to explain the model and methodology developed in this paper. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 47: 18–39, 2000     

Avoiding self-inflicted wounds to the credibility of the US nuclear deterrent

Nuclear deterrence requires not only the reliability of a state’s strategic weapons and the willingness of its leaders to employ them but also an adversary’s appreciation of these conditions. Weapons perceived as failing to hold their targets at risk may lack deterrent value, just as retaliatory threats that are not believable may fail to deter, even if a state’s operational capabilities are robust. Both the technical and political credibility of the US nuclear deterrent may have suffered self-inflicted harm since the end of the Cold War, often as casualties of intemperate policy debates. In particular, doubts have been sowed about the reliability of aging US warheads under a science-based stockpile-stewardship regime meant to substitute for nuclear-explosive testing. Likewise, the credibility of US deterrent threats may have waned as American leaders have spoken ever more stridently about the horrors of nuclear war and nuclear terrorism, underscoring their extreme aversion to the risk of nuclear attack. Diminished credibility in both spheres threatens to compromise US national-security objectives ranging from nuclear nonproliferation to the outcomes of nuclear crises.     

直射武器弹药性能测试仪自动击发系统设计与实现

直射武器弹药性能测试仪是对直射武器弹药性能进行检测的一种装置,自动击发系统是直射武器弹药性能测试仪的重要组成部分,它是完成弹药自动发射、检测弹药性能的关键。介绍了自动击发系统的组成结构及其工作原理,对自动击发控制系统的实现进行了系统研究,详细介绍了自动击发系统结构参数的设计计算过程,并举例验证了其可靠性。     

软件测试方法综述

论述了软件测试技术近几年来研究的最新成果。包括软件的故障模型、白盒测试技术、黑盒测试技术、人工测试技术、可靠性测试技术和测试性设计技术等。以作为对近十几年来软件测试技术发展的总结,还初步的探讨了软件测试技术今后的发展。     

A sequential Bayesian generalization of the Jelinski–Moranda software reliability model

The Jelinski–Moranda model of software reliability is generalized by introducing a negative‐binomial prior distribution for the number of faults remaining, together with a Gamma distribution for the rate at which each fault is exposed. This model is well suited to sequential use, where a sequence of reliability forecasts is made in the process of testing or using the software. We also investigate replacing the Gamma distribution with a worst‐case assumption about failure rates (the worst‐case failure rate in models such as this is not infinite, since faults with large failure rates are immediately discovered and removed). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2006     

火炮炮闩击发机构可靠性强化试验技术

为提高炮闩的试验效率和可靠性,将可靠性强化试验理论引入其可靠性研究中。以火炮炮闩为强化试验载体,基于虚拟样机技术对击发机构磨损失效进行强化试验研究,依据受力分析确定了增大击针簧刚度的强化试验技术,通过仿真试验和分析,结果表明机构磨损量强化系数随强化应力水平的提高而变大,所确定的强化试验技术加快了零部件失效进程,有利于缩减可靠性试验的时间,为可靠性强化试验在装备机械系统中的应用提供理论和技术支撑。     

Approximations to the reliability of phased missions

A system whose configuration (block diagram or fault tree) changes during consecutive time periods (phases) performs a “phased mission.” Recently, Esary and Ziehms have shown that any multiphase mission can be transformed into an equivalent, synthetic, single-phase system, and thus that the phased mission problem can in principle be solved by standard reliability methods. We employ these ideas here to study approximations to mission reliability and to develop an algorithm which may be of practical interest. In addition, we extend the reliability calculus of Rubinstein, and Esary and Hayne, based on an approximate hazard transform, to phased missions, and we show how this extended calculus can be used in situations where phases are not of known fixed duration.     

The optimal burn-in testing of repairable equipment

The subject of this paper is the utilization of the “infant mortality” or decreasing failure rate effect to improve the reliability of repairable devices. Decreasing failure rate implies the possibility that devices which exhibit it can be improved by “burn-in testing” of each unit. Such a test serves to accumulate operating time while shielded from the full costs and consequences of failure. A general formulation of the burn-in test decision for repairable devices is presented and some special cases are solved. A class of models, indexed by the degree of partial replacement present in the repair process, is considered and numerical results for the optimal policy are given for several members of that class. A comparison of those results reveals the profitability of testing increases with the complexity of the repairable device.     

步进加速退化试验及其在电子产品可靠性评估中的应用

为快速评估具有高可靠、长寿命特点的电子产品的可靠性，提出了使用步进加速退化试验技术的方法。文中首先给出了步进加速退化的试验方法及基本假设，然后给出了步进退化数据向恒加退化数据的折算方法，在此基础上提出了基于伪失效寿命的步进加速退化可靠性评估算法，最后利用试验数据对该方法进行了验证。该方法与恒加退化试验相比，在保持样本量不变的基础上，可以极大地缩短试验时间，因此，具有更高的效费比。     

一种基于程序域边界分析的测试方法

边界附近的点对程序故障更加敏感.针对这一特征,提出了一种基于程序域边界分析的测试方法.从被测程序本身出发,进行定义域确定及子域划分,分析定义域边界和子域边界,并跟据其边界测试点产生测试用例,以检测域边界附近的处理.实验表明对定义域边界及其子域边界进行测试,可有效地提高故障覆盖率.