A Robust and Efficient Algorithm for Reliability Assessment of Phased-Mission Systems

The operation of missions encountered in aerospace, defense, and many other advanced applications often involves different tasks or phases that must be accomplished in sequence. Systems used in these missions are called phased mission systems (PMS). During each mission phase, the system must accomplish a specified set of tasks and may be subject to different operational stresses and environmental conditions as well as different reliability requirements. Thus, system configuration, success criteria, and component failure behavior may change from phase to phase. In addition, an accurate reliability analysis of these systems must consider the statistical dependencies of component states across the phases. The consideration of these dynamic dependencies poses unique challenges to existing reliability analysis methods.