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Bounds on uptime distribution based on aging for systems with finite lifetimes

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Abstract

Consider a system which is subject to occasional failures over its lifetime. Under general stochastic assumptions concerning the occurrence of these failures, the duration of the repair times, and the length of the system’s lifetime, the distribution of the total uptime the system accumulates over its lifetime may be determined. While the distribution is unfortunately complicated except in certain circumstances, it is possible to derive useful bounds based on the aging characteristics of the distributions of interfailure times, repair times, and system life. Bounds are developed for the cases where the system lifetime follows (1) a degenerate distribution (or constant mission duration), (2) an exponential distribution, and (3) a general distribution. These bounds may be interpreted as extensions of well-known bounds based on aging notions from renewal theory. Conditions are identified for when the bounds are sharp, and examples are used to show the computational tractability and usefulness of the results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of MIS, OM, and DSC, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH, 45469-2130, USA

    Charles E. Wells

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  1. Charles E. Wells
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Correspondence to Charles E. Wells.

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Wells, C.E. Bounds on uptime distribution based on aging for systems with finite lifetimes. Ann Oper Res 235, 757–769 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-015-1950-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-015-1950-1

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