Design for Reliability Course, Nasa Lewis Research Center, Office of
Safety and Mission Assurance, instructors: Vincent Lalli, Michael Packard,
1995. (666 slides available at
http://www-osma.grc.nasa.gov/dfr/dfr.htm)
This tutorial consists of a slide set that serves as an introduction to system
reliability as taught by NASA. While it focuses on a fairly traditional
reliability mathematics approach, it does do a reasonably good job of looking
across the entire life cycle. Details available. (dependability; safety,
software, design, manufacturing, deployment)
RAC Computer-Aided Reliability Training Course, Reliability Analysis
Center, Griffiss AFB, Rome NY.
Somewhat detailed Windows PC self-paced course on reliability analysis and
testing. Details available. (dependability;
electronic hardware, design)
Books & Standards:
Benchmarking Commercial Reliability Practices, Ned Criscimagna,
Reliability Analysis Center, Rome NY, 1995. (140 pages)
This reports the results of a business "benchmarking" exercise in
which 41 companies from seven industries were surveyed to determine their
current reliability practices. 11 companies were then interviewed. Details available. (dependability,
society/institutions)
Reliability Engineering Handbook, Dimitri Kececioglu; Prentice Hall,
Englewood Cliffs NJ, 1991. (two volume set; 1229 pages+)
This is an extensive treatise on the mathematics of reliability engineering.
Volume 1 is based on the bathtub curve of component and system reliability.
Volume 2 discusses reliability analysis and improvement techniques. Details available. (dependability; mechanical
hardware, design)
Safeware: system safety and computers, Nancy Leveson,
Addison-Wesley, Reading MA, 1995. (680 pages+).
This book puts software safety into the context of traditional industrial
safety engineering, which the author contends can teach many lessons that
software practitioners need to learn. It also prescribes the elements of a
safety-critical software program including analyses, design, and verification.
Details available. (dependability, safety,
software, humans; requirements, design)
Handbook of Software Reliability Engineering, Michael Lyu (Editor),
IEEE Computer Society Press, 1996. (850+ pages).
This is a comprehensive collection of chapters on Software Reliability, and is
an excellent place to review the current state of knowledge in the area. Topics
covered include a survey or reliability modeling techniques, discussion of
operational profiles (which are central to many modeling approaches), current
practice & experience, data analysis, and several emerging techniques. Details available. (dependability, software;
design, manufacturing)
Long-Term Non-Operating Reliability of Electronic Products, Judy
Pecht & Michael Pecht, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1995. (119 pages).
A discussion of physics-of-failure for electronics stored for long periods of
time, including in-use storage such as parked automobiles or dormant comsumer
electronics. Details available. (dependability, electronic
hardware, logistics; design)
Introduction to Software Reliability: a state of the art review,
Report # F30602-94-0087, Reliability Analysis Center (Mary Hartz, Ellen Walker,
David Mahar listed as authors), Rome NY, 1996. (183 pages).
Surveys software reliability concepts for hardware engineers, including
software development methods, metrics, and reliability models. Details available. (dependability, software,
design; electronic hardware, requirements)
Electronic Reliability SP-573, SAE (Marvin Hartz, editor),
Warrendale PA, 1984. (52 pages).
This is an early collection of SAE papers on electronic and wiring harness
reliability, including some lifecycle considerations. Details available. (dependability, electronic
hardware, design, manufacturing)
Automotive Electronics Reliability SP-696, SAE, Warrendale PA, 1987.
(67 pages).
This is a collection of SAE papers that together form a design manual for
automotive reliability. In particular it addresses the differences between
automotive applications and defense/aerospace approaches such as MIL-HDBK-217.
Details available. (dependability, electronic
hardware, design; affordability, mechanical hardware, manufacturing,
deployment)
Safety-Critical Computer Systems, Neil Storey, Addison-Wesley,
Harlow England, 1996. (453+ pages).
This is arguably the most comprehensive book available in the area of robust
embedded system design. It is written in an introductory textbook style, and is
an excellent starting point for an engineer trying to understand the
multi-disciplinary technical issues involved with safety-critical systems. Details available. (dependability, safety,
electronic hardware, software, design; requirements)
Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety Assessment,
Alain Villemeur; John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 1992. (two volume set; 746
pages+).
Broad-ranging, multidisciplinary discussion of system-level dependability
topics. Volume 1 is a survey of mathematics, and 9 analysis methods. Volume 2
discusses multiple disciplines, automated tools, and case studies. Details available. (dependability; safety,
electronic hardware, software, humans)
Papers:
"Automotive Electronic Reliability Prediction", William Denson
and Mary Priore, SAE paper 870050. Automotive
Electronics Reliability SP-696, SAE Warrendale PA, 1987, pp. 1-11.
An alternative to MIL-HDBK-217 for automotive applications. Includes both
equations and data values for representative automotive component reliability
calculations. Details available. (dependability,
electronic hardware; design)
Software:
Data:
Nonelectronic Parts Reliability Data,
Reliability Analysis Center, Griffiss
AFB, Rome NY, 1995 (1020 pages). Document F30602-91-C-0002.
This data source provides quantitative models based on real data of in-service
component failure rates. Details available. (dependability,
electro-mechanical hardware, design; logistics)
Electronic Parts Reliability Data,
Reliability Analysis Center, Griffiss
AFB, Rome NY, 1997.
This data source provides quantitative models based on real data of in-service
electronic component failure rates. Details available. (dependability, electronic
hardware, design; logistics)
Nonoperating Reliability Databook,
Reliability Analysis Center, Griffiss
AFB, Rome NY, 1987.
This data source provides quantitative models based on real data for how
components degrade over time spent in storage. Details available. (dependability, electronic
hardware, electro-mechanical hardware, logistics)
Internet Resources:
Ariane
5 Failure report
This documents the role of a system robustness problem in causing the loss of
Ariane 5 flight 501 (the inaugural flight of an unmanned heavy lift rocket).
A personal interpretation of what this
means to system robustness is available. (safety, dependability, software,
design; affordability)