Reliability evaluation of defence support systems

Abstract

The motivation for the preparation of this chapter is my wish to create an integrated introductory resource for the study of the systems reliability principles based on Defence Supports Systems (DSS). The focus across the chapter created is the support of design activities that lead to the production of dependable and efficient Defence equipments. Notwithstanding the emphasis upon initial study, the chapter has also been served well as a resource for practicing engineers, academicians and technocrats. Engineers and Scientists of the DSS who are involved in the design process and verification of product quality will find coherent explanations of the reliability and maintenance issues that will influence the success of the devices they design for composite DSS. This chapter is intended to provide a fundamental course in reliability theory to evaluate systems reliability in fields of the engineering and technology. It begins with an introduction to the key statistical concepts required for the implementation of a reliability analysis: both the analytical and the numerical methods used have been described with worked examples. Examples on applications of the methods are given to illustrate the advantages and limitations of the different techniques, together with case studies drawn from the author's experience of academia and consultancy. Comprehensive coverage of the basic concepts of probability theory, Intelligent Defence support system (IDSS) structures with reliability evaluations, Hazard model for failure analysis and various probability distributions of IDSS, solved as well as unsolved numerical examples based on IDSS in each sub-section have been described in this chapter. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.