Quantitative evaluation of the reliability benefits of maintenance bus implementation

Among methods highly improving system reliability and maintainability is use of a dedicated route called maintenance bus for isolating and diagnosing devices. We have evaluated the reliability benefits of the system with maintenance bus. Our studies have yielded the following results: (a) when a periodically health-checked maintenance bus is used, the state probability where normal operation cannot be guaranteed is reduced on the order of three to four decimal places compared to a system without a separate maintenance bus, (b) immediate isolation and recovery procedure for a maintenance bus fault is preferable, and (c) a bit serial bus connection is the most reliable configuration. The TRON serial bus standard offers a promising alternative as a maintenance bus