On a New Stochastic Usage Model (Non-Time-Homogeneous Poisson) for Testing a Multi-Stage System to Promote Reliability Growth

摘要

Anewmodelforreliabilitygrowthforamulti-stagesystemisintroduced;thesystemmaybeeitherhardwareorsoftware,oracombinationthereof.Theusageofeachstageofthesystemduringamissionismodeledasanon-time-homogenousPoissonprocess(NHPP).Duringsystemdesign,manufacture,installation,usageanddevelopment,failure-causingdesigndefects(DDs)mayinadvertentlybeintroducedintoeachstageofthesystem.Thesystemundergoesasequenceoftestmissionsbeforeitisfielded.DuringeachtestmissionDDsmay,withprobabilitylessthanone,causefailureandthusrevealthemselves.TheseDDsarethenidentifiedandremoved(byredesignorre-programming)attheendofthetestmission,butwithprobabilitylessthanone.ExpressionsandanapproximationaregivenfortheprobabilitynoDDsareactivatedduringafieldmissionafteraspecifiednumberoftest-fix-testmissions.