An efficient reliability evaluation method for industrial wireless sensor networks

Aimed at the difficulties in accurately, comprehensively and systematically evaluating the reliability of industrial wireless sensor networks （WSNs）, a time-evolving state transition-Monte Carlo （TEST-MC） evaluation method and a novel network function value representation method are proposed to evaluate the reliability of the IWSNs. First, the adjacency matrix method is used to characterize three typical topologies of WSNs including the mesh network, tree network and ribbon network. Secondly, the network function value method is used to evaluate the network connectivity, and the TEST-MC evaluation method is used to evaluate network reliability and availability. Finally, the variations in the reliability, connectivity and availability of these three topologies are presented. Simulation results show that the proposed method can quickly analyze the reliability of the networks containing typical WSN topologies, which provides an effective method for the comprehensive and accurate evaluation of the reliability of WSNs.

Assessment of Dependent Performance Shaping Factors in SPAR-H Based on Pearson Correlation Coefficient

With the improvement of equipment reliability,human factors have become the most uncertain part in the system.The standardized Plant Analysis of Risk-Human Reliability Analysis(SPAR-H)method is a reliable method in the field of human reliability analysis(HRA)to evaluate human reliability and assess risk in large complex systems.However,the classical SPAR-H method does not consider the dependencies among performance shaping factors(PSFs),whichmay cause overestimation or underestimation of the risk of the actual situation.To address this issue,this paper proposes a new method to deal with the dependencies among PSFs in SPAR-H based on the Pearson correlation coefficient.First,the dependence between every two PSFs is measured by the Pearson correlation coefficient.Second,the weights of the PSFs are obtained by considering the total dependence degree.Finally,PSFs’multipliers are modified based on the weights of corresponding PSFs,and then used in the calculating of human error probability(HEP).A case study is used to illustrate the procedure and effectiveness of the proposed method.

RELIABILITY EVALUATION MODEL BASED ON DATA FUSION FOR AIRCRAFT ENGINES

Reliability evaluation for aircraft engines is difficult because of the scarcity of failure data. But aircraft engine data are available from a variety of sources. Data fusion has the function of maximizing the amount of valu- able information extracted from disparate data sources to obtain the comprehensive reliability knowledge. Consid- ering the degradation failure and the catastrophic failure simultaneously, which are competing risks and can affect the reliability, a reliability evaluation model based on data fusion for aircraft engines is developed, Above the characteristics of the proposed model, reliability evaluation is more feasible than that by only utilizing failure data alone, and is also more accurate than that by only considering single failure mode. Example shows the effective- ness of the proposed model.

Reliability Evaluation of Machine Center Components Based on Cascading Failure Analysis

In order to rectify the problems that the com- ponent reliability model exhibits deviation, and the evalu- ation result is low due to the overlook of failure propagation in traditional reliability evaluation of machine center components, a new reliability evaluation method based on cascading failure analysis and the failure influ- enced degree assessment is proposed. A direct graph model of cascading failure among components is established according to cascading failure mechanism analysis and graph theory. The failure influenced degrees of the system components are assessed by the adjacency matrix and its transposition, combined with the Pagerank algorithm. Based on the comprehensive failure probability function and total probability formula, the inherent failure proba- bility function is determined to realize the reliability evaluation of the system components. Finally, the method is applied to a machine center, it shows the following： 1） The reliability evaluation values of the proposed method are at least 2.5% higher than those of the traditional method; 2） The difference between the comprehensive and inherent reliability of the system component presents a positive correlation with the failure influenced degree ofthe system component, which provides a theoretical basis for reliability allocation of machine center system.

Reliability Evaluation of All-User Terminals in LEO Satellite Communication Network Based on Modular Reduction

LEO satellite communication network has a large number of satellites distributed in low orbits,which leads to multiple coverage of many areas on the ground.It is hard work to describe and evaluate the reliability of LEO satellite communication network.To solve this problem,the reliability of all-user terminals in LEO satellite communication network is defined,and the corresponding reliability evaluation method is proposed in the paper.Due to the large scale of the interstellar network,a modular reduction algorithm using the modular network instead of the original network for state decomposition is proposed in this paper.Case study shows that the calculation time of the proposed method is equivalent to 6.28%of the original state space decomposition algorithm.On this basis,the reliability of LEO satellite communication network is further analyzed.It is found that the reliability of LEO satellite network was more sensitive to the reliability of Inter-Satellite link and the satisfaction of global coverage in the early stage,and it is more sensitive to the reliability of the satellite in the later stage.The satellite-ground link has a relatively constant impact on of LEO satellite network.

Reliability evaluation method and algorithm for electromechanical product

The reliability of electromechanical product is usually determined by the fault number and working time traditionally. The shortcoming of this method is that the product must be in service. To design and enhance the reliability of the electromechanical product, the reliability evaluation method must be feasible and correct. Reliability evaluation method and algorithm were proposed. The reliability of product can be calculated by the reliability of subsystems which can be gained by experiment or historical data. The reliability of the machining center was evaluated by the method and algorithm as one example. The calculation result shows that the solution accuracy of mean time between failures is 97.4% calculated by the method proposed in this article compared by the traditional method. The method and algorithm can be used to evaluate the reliability of electromechanical product before it is in service.

Testing and Evaluation for Web Usability Based on Extended Markov Chain Model

As the increasing popularity and complexity of Web applications and the emergence of their new characteristics, the testing and maintenance of large, complex Web applications are becoming more complex and difficult. Web applications generally contain lots of pages and are used by enormous users. Statistical testing is an effective way of ensuring their quality. Web usage can be accurately described by Markov chain which has been proved to be an ideal model for software statistical testing. The results of unit testing can be utilized in the latter stages, which is an important strategy for bottom-to-top integration testing, and the other improvement of extended Markov chain model (EMM) is to present the error type vector which is treated as a part of page node. this paper also proposes the algorithm for generating test cases of usage paths. Finally, optional usage reliability evaluation methods and an incremental usability regression testing model for testing and evaluation are presented. Key words statistical testing - evaluation for Web usability - extended Markov chain model (EMM) - Web log mining - reliability evaluation CLC number TP311. 5 Foundation item: Supported by the National Defence Research Project (No. 41315. 9. 2) and National Science and Technology Plan (2001BA102A04-02-03)Biography: MAO Cheng-ying (1978-), male, Ph.D. candidate, research direction: software testing. Research direction: advanced database system, software testing, component technology and data mining.

Reliability Evaluation Metrics for Open Source Software Selection

Recently, Open Source Software （OSS） is so widely used not only by companies for development but also by common users instead of commercial software. However, the number of OSS is vast, and its quality varies from low to high. So how people can evaluate OSS and ensta-e that it is reliable for use becomes necessary. This paper proposes a set of reliability evaluation metrics considering the states of OSS selected in the early stage. Understandability, Fault tolerance ＆ Recoverability and Community Matmrity as sub-attributes of reliability are defined, and then several evaluation criteria for each of them are identified. A process of reliability evaluation in our study is proposed. For application, we select four OSS projects and evaluate them with our metrics. As a result of compadrison with other evaluation model for OSS, our research presents an easy, effective and trustworthy way for selecting a reliable OSS.

The System Analysis and Reliability Evaluation of Rock Slopes

The principal of preferred plane analysis is a new research view and model of rock slope engineering geology. It advocates that the rock slope stability, boundary conditions and failure model are controlled by preferred planes. Therefore, the problem of slope stability evaluation can be converted into the search for preferred planes and determination of preferred separating bodies. The organic combination of the deterministic model and the indeterministic model can be realized by applying the systems engineering principle and the research model and method of reliability analysis in the quantitative evaluation and prediction of rock slope stability. Finally, the paper presents the case studies of slopes of the Yangtze Gorge Project and the Ma'anshan openpit mine.

Reliability evaluation on CNC lathes based on the modified L-M method

Equivalent ways commonly used in engineering works are not effective to estimate the reliability of tandem system based on L-M method. One modified L-M method is an important means to estimate the reliability of CNC lathes. A method of using two named confidence limits for the estimation is put forward. Fitting resuits of the sub-systems of CNC machine tools are estimated. And the scattered level of confidence limits facing the reliability matrix of sub-systems can be clearly seen.

Reliability Evaluation and Sensitivity Analysis for Multi-state System Based on Time Degradation Measures

The performance and state of multi-state system depend on its structure and different state combinations of the components. In order to evaluate the reliability of multi-state system effectively,a reliability evaluation and sensitivity analysis method based on the time degradation measures was proposed. The equivalence sets of the multi-state system under different output performances were established. The state combinations were classified according to the performance level. The degradation probability models under different states were established,and the new reliability measures,such as dynamic probability of multi-state system,holding time in each state,dynamic expectation function and integrated expectation function of the performance,were proposed and used to implement the dynamic reliability evaluation and sensitivity analysis. A certain diesel engine fuel feeding system was taken as an application example to illustrate the proposed method. The results show that not only the holding time in the desired state of the components and the system can be predicted,but also the best state component in a certain time period can be obtained.

EVALUATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL RELIABILITY OF SURFACE MINING DEPOSIT

The optimal deeision theory and exploitation reliability of large scale mining area have been studied China since the late 1980’s. Researches have been earried out under the thought of mannature - machine system , and eneouraging results have been obtained. The reliability evaluation of mining engineering ineludes the rellability exaluation of natural resources, mining technology and mine economics ete. And the geological reliability of deposit, as a natural condition, is the basis of all other evaiuation works. The paper summarizes the method for evaluating the geological reliaoility of deposit, diseusces the reliability of estimating methods for coal reserves and coai quality, evaiuates the natural resourees rellability of the Pit 1 of Antaibao Surface Coai Mine, Pingsuo, Shanxi Province.which was taken as a case study.

Sensitivity analysis and probability modelling of the structural response of a single-layer reticulated dome subjected to an external blast loading

The structural response of a single-layer reticulated dome to external explosions is shaped by many variables,and the associated uncertainties imply non-deterministic results.Existing deterministic methods for predicting the consequences of specific explosions do not account for these uncertainties.Therefore,the impact of the uncertainties associated with these input variables on the structures’response needs to be studied and quantified.In this study,a parametric uncertainty analysis was conducted first.Then,local and global sensitivity analyses were carried out to identify the drivers of the structural dynamic response.A probabilistic structural response model was established based on sensitive variables and a reasonable sample size.Furthermore,some deterministic empirical methods for explosion-resistance design,including the plane blast load model of CONWEP,the curved blast load model under the 50%assurance level,and the 20%mass-increased method,were used for evaluating their reliability.The results of the analyses revealed that the structural response of a single-layer reticulated dome to an external blast loading is lognormally distributed.Evidently,the MB0.5 method based on the curved reflector load model yielded results with a relatively stable assurance rate and reliability,but CONWEP did not;thus,the 1.2MB0.5 method can be used for making high-confidence simple predictions.In addition,the results indicated that the structural response is very sensitive to the explosion parameters.Based on these results,it is suggested that for explosion proofing,setting up a defensive barrier is more effective than structural strengthening.

Bayesian framework for satellite rechargeable lithium battery synthesizing bivariate degradation and lifetime data

Reliability and remaining useful life(RUL)estimation for a satellite rechargeable lithium battery(RLB)are significant for prognostic and health management(PHM).A novel Bayesian framework is proposed to do reliability analysis by synthesizing multisource data,including bivariate degradation data and lifetime data.Bivariate degradation means that there are two degraded performance characteristics leading to the failure of the system.First,linear Wiener process and Frank Copula function are used to model the dependent degradation processes of the RLB's temperature and discharge voltage.Next,the Bayesian method,in combination with Markov Chain Monte Carlo(MCMC)simulations,is provided to integrate limited bivariate degradation data with other congeneric RLBs'lifetime data.Then reliability evaluation and RUL prediction are carried out for PHM.A simulation study demonstrates that due to the data fusion,parameter estimations and predicted RUL obtained from our model are more precise than models only using degradation data or ignoring the dependency of different degradation processes.Finally,a practical case study of a satellite RLB verifies the usability of the model.

Fatigue damage reliability analysis for Nanjing Yangtze river bridge using structural health monitoring data

To evaluate the fatigue damage reliability of critical members of the Nanjing Yangtze river bridge, according to the stress-number curve and Miner’s rule, the corresponding expressions for calculating the structural fatigue damage reliability were derived. Fatigue damage reliability analysis of some critical members of the Nanjing Yangtze river bridge was carried out by using the strain-time histories measured by the structural health monitoring system of the bridge. The corresponding stress spectra were obtained by the real-time rain-flow counting method. Results of fatigue damage were calculated respectively by the reliability method at different reliability and compared with Miner’s rule. The results show that the fatigue damage of critical members of the Nanjing Yangtze river bridge is very small due to its low live-load stress level.

Multi-Source Adaptive Selection and Fusion for Pedestrian Dead Reckoning

Accurate multi-source fusion is based on the reliability, quantity, and fusion mode of the sources. The problem of selecting the optimal set for participating in the fusion process is nondeterministic-polynomial-time-hard and is neither sub-modular nor super-modular. Furthermore, in the case of the Kalman filter(KF) fusion algorithm, accurate statistical characteristics of noise are difficult to obtain, and this leads to an unsatisfactory fusion result. To settle the referred cases, a distributed and adaptive weighted fusion algorithm based on KF has been proposed in this paper. In this method, on the basis of the pseudo prior probability of the estimated state of each source, the reliability of the sources is evaluated and the optimal set is selected on a certain threshold. Experiments were performed on multi-source pedestrian dead reckoning for verifying the proposed algorithm. The results obtained from these experiments indicate that the optimal set can be selected accurately with minimal computation, and the fusion error is reduced by 16.6% as compared to the corresponding value resulting from the algorithm without improvements.The proposed adaptive source reliability and fusion weight evaluation is effective against the varied-noise multi-source fusion system, and the fusion error caused by inaccurate statistical characteristics of the noise is reduced by the adaptive weight evaluation.The proposed algorithm exhibits good robustness, adaptability,and value on applications.

Optimal transmission lines assignment with maximal reliabilities in multi-source multi-sink multi-state computer network

The optimal transmission lines assignment with maximal reliabilities (OTLAMR) in the multi-source multi-sink multi-state computer network (MMMCN) was investigated. The OTLAMR problem contains two sub-problems: the MMMCN reliabilities evaluation and multi-objective transmission lines assignment optimization. First, a reliability evaluation with a transmission line assignment (RETLA) algorithm is proposed to calculate the MMMCN reliabilities under the cost constraint for a certain transmission lines configuration. Second, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) is adopted to find the non-dominated set of the transmission lines assignments based on the reliabilities obtained from the RETLA algorithm. By combining the RETLA and the NSGA-II algorithms together, the RETLA-NSGA II algorithm is proposed to solve the OTLAMR problem. The experiments result show that the RETLA-NSGA II algorithm can provide efficient solutions in a reasonable time, from which the decision makers can choose the best solution based on their preferences and experiences.

Reliability Evaluation of Wind Power Converter Under Fault-tolerant Control Scheme with Quantification of Temperature and Humidity Effects

Wind power converter(WPC)is a key part of a wind power unit which delivers electric energy to power grid.Because of a large number of semiconductors,WPC has a high failure rate.This paper proposes a method to accurately evaluate the reliability of WPC,which is crucial for the design and maintenance of wind turbines.Firstly,the index of effective temperature(ET)is presented to quantify the effects of temperature and humidity on the semiconductor operation.A novel method is proposed to evaluate the lifetime and calculate the aging failure rates of the semiconductors considering the fluctuations of ET.Secondly,the failure mode and effect analysis(FMEA)of WPC is investigated based on the topology and control scheme.The conventional two-state reliability model of the WPC is extended to the multi-state reliability model where the partial working state under the fault-tolerant control scheme is allowed.Finally,a reliability evaluation framework is established to calculate the parameters of the WPC reliability model considering the variable failure rates and repair activities of semiconductors.Case studies are designed to verfify the proposed method using a practical wind turbine.

Empirical Research on the Application of a Structure-Based Software Reliability Model

Reliability engineering implemented early in the development process has a significant impact on improving software quality.It can assist in the design of architecture and guide later testing,which is beyond the scope of traditional reliability analysis methods.Structural reliability models work for this,but most of them remain tested in only simulation case studies due to lack of actual data.Here we use software metrics for reliability modeling which are collected from source codes of post versions.Through the proposed strategy,redundant metric elements are filtered out and the rest are aggregated to represent the module reliability.We further propose a framework to automatically apply the module value and calculate overall reliability by introducing formal methods.The experimental results from an actual project show that reliability analysis at the design and development stage can be close to the validity of analysis at the test stage through reasonable application of metric data.The study also demonstrates that the proposed methods have good applicability.

Reliability modelling based on dependent two-stage virtual age processes

This paper proposes reliability and maintenance models for systems suffering random shocks arriving according to a non-homogeneous Poisson process.The system degradation process include two stages:from the installation of a new system to an initial point of a defect(normal stage),and then from that point to failure(defective stage),following the delay time concept.By employing the virtual age method,the impact of external shocks on the system degradation process is characterized by random virtual age increment in the two stages,resulting in the corresponding two-stage virtual age process.When operating in the defective state,the system becomes more susceptible to fatigue and suffers from a greater aging rate.Replacement is carried out either on failure or on the detection of a defective state at periodic or opportunistic inspections.This paper evaluates system reliability performance and investigates the optimal opportunistic maintenance policy.A case study on a cooling system is given to verify the obtained results.