Reliability Fundamentals

Abstract

In the earlier times, the problems connected with the development and operation of the systems were serious but the consequences of failures were not as dramatic or as catastrophic. From the beginning of the industrial age reliability problems had to be considered rather seriously. At first, reliability was confined to mechanical equipment. However, with the advent of electrification considerable effort went into making the supply of electric power reliable. With the use of aircraft came the reliability problems connected with airborne equipment, which were more difficult to solve than reliability problems of stationary or land-transportation equipment. Reliability entered a new era with the onset of the electronic age, the age of jet aircraft flying at sonic and supersonic speeds and the age of missiles and spacevehicles.