Application of advanced failure analysis results for reliability and availability estimations

A software tool was developed to simulate the system-wide effects of all part or component level failures that can be enumerated at the design or later stage in the life-cycle of a complex system. The basic analysis output is a propagation table which lends itself to a number of different uses, including the estimation of system reliability and availability. This paper outlines the methodology developed to apply the failure analysis results to system reliability and availability analysis using a functional-dependency based approach. The case study provided illustrates how the analysis can be refined and updated through the system life-cycle to support design optimisation, configuration management and mission planning.