Introduction (contd.

)
Recap of definitions
Reliability R(t)
Availability A(t)
Performability and Dependability

Importance of analysis and analytical

model
to evaluate a design
a metric to compare different designs
to provide feedback to the designer during early design
stages
use a model for performance analysis
used for quantitative and qualitative analysis
ECE 753 Fault Tolerant Computing

Introduction (contd.)
Mathematical formulation for quantitative
analysis
consider a large experiment with N systems
observation at time t
N0(t) - number of correctly operating systems
Nf(t) - number of failed systems

Hence

Reliability R(t) = N0(t)/N(t) = 1 - Nf(t)/N

Unreliability Q(t) = 1 - R(t)
Derivative of reliability: dR/dt = -(1/N)(dNf(t)/dt)
dNf(t)/dt is called instantaneous failure rate of the
component
ECE 753 Fault Tolerant Computing

Introduction (contd.)
Mathematical formulation (contd.)
Also
failure rate at time t
(instantaneous failure rate at time t) / N0(t)
(1/N0(t))(dNf(t)/dt) - called z(t)
this and the previous expressions together reduce to
z(t) = -(1/R(t))(dR(t)/dt)
Z(t) is called failure rate, hazard function or hazard rate
We can solve the above for R(t) provided we know
instantaneous failure rate
Bath tub curve for failure rate
implies constant failure rate during useful life
infant mortality and wear out periods have variable
failure rates

ECE 753 Fault Tolerant Computing

Introduction (contd.)
Mathematical formulation (contd.)
Reliability computation - constant failure rate
solve the equations - exponential function for reliability
and for unreliability, R(t) = 1- Q(t) = exp(-t)

Reliability computation - time varying failure rate

Waibull distribution z(t) = (t)**(-1)
solve the equations - exponential function for reliability
and for unreliability

Failure rate computation - military standard

function of - learning factor, quality factor, temperature
factor, environmental factor, and # of pins on IC (see the
slide set by Koren and Krishna)
ECE 753 Fault Tolerant Computing

Introduction (contd.)
Mathematical formulation (contd.)
Reliability computation - mean time to failure (MTTF)
Definition: expected time that a system will operate before
the first failure occurs
Probability measure: S-sample space, E-event space
for A in E P(A) >= 0
P(S) = 1
P(AB) = P(A) + P(B), when A and B are non-intersecting

Random Variable (RV) - X maps events of S to realnumbers

Probability distribution function of a RV
Probability density function (pdf) - derivative of the
distribution function
ECE 753 Fault Tolerant Computing