Prognostics for electronic equipment: an economic perspective

Prognostics are not currently in wide use for electronic equipment whereas they are an established feature for many mechanical components. The paper examines technical and economic factors that underlie this disparity and concludes that prognostics may be beneficial for electronics where the cost of the instrumentation is low, the prognostic technique provides broad coverage, and the difference between the cost of pre-planned maintenance and unscheduled maintenance is high