Reliability assurance

Typically, hardware faults cannot be prevented by design. What we can do is reduce their likelihood, and to mitigate their risks.

Methods

• Simplification - applying the KISS principle
• Setting reliability demands - considering the MTBI computed from the MTBF of the system units
• Adding resilience features, to reduce the likelihood of environmental faults.

Examples

AF 447 - the speed sensors were blocked by ice

Guidelines

The design challenge is to ensure moderate operational conditions, that will reduce the likelihood of faults.

Mitigating the risks of hardware faults

  Unless it is guaranteed that the operators can be trained to cope with hardware faults, the design should maximize their reliability.

  Apply methods for reliability assurance

Related topic

Updated on 09 Jan 2017.