1 962 SOMER: REDUNDANT PULSE AMPLIFIER
REDUNDANT PULSE AMPLIFE:R'
Toivo A. Somer
Research Laboratories Division
The Bendix Corporation
Southfield (Detroit), Michigan
Summary
A redundant transistorized pulse amplifier
is described, composed of a remote preamplifier
operating at -80°C and a main pulse amplifier.
Active parallel redundancy is used in the pre-
amplifier as well as in the main amplifier. Com-
mon feedback between the parallel redundant
amplifiers stabilizes the voltage amplification in
spite of component failures in one signal path.
Delay-line pulse shaping is employed to reduce
noise and to eliminate the detrimental effects of
pulse pile-up.
Introduction
Background and Scope
With the advent of satellites and rockets
that must operate unattended for long periods of
time, the electronic circuit design must meet not
only the functional but also the reliability require-
ments. These reliability requirements are not
always met by the use of premium quality circuit
components of the type developed for the
MINUTEMAN and POLARIS missile programs,
but require the use of special techniques to make
the circuits capable of tolerating catastrophic
component failures and inevitable component de-
gradation. In this report a pulse amplifier is
described whose life expectancy has been extended
by the use of active parallel subcircuit redundancy.
The pulse amplifier can tolerate considerable
circuit parameter degradation and catastrophic
component failures.
The function of the instrument is to amplify
the pualses from the photomultiplier to a level
suitable for pulse-height discrimination. The
photomultipliers are remote from the main
*The infornation in this paper is based on a subcontract performed
by the Bendix Corporation, Research Laboratories Division, for
the Princeton University Observatory under Contract AF19(604)-
4972 of the U.S. Airforce Electronic Systems Division. This paper
is a summary of the redundant pulse amplifier section of the
Bendix Final Report No. 1919 submitted September 30, 1961.
Orig. T SO' rec 'ci bv P'S 3/30,/, revised r rec'd 7/19/62.
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7
satellite electronics and operate in an ambient
of -80°C ±2000C. For improved signal-to-noise
ratio, pulse preamplifiers are placed near the
photodetectors.
Specifications
The redundant pulse amplifier was designed
to satisfy the following requirements:
(1) To operate for a year in an electronic
system whose required probability of
success is 0.95.
(2) To be sensitive to charge pulses of
4 x 10-14 coulombs.
(3) To be capable of fast recovery from
overloads, 1000 times the threshold.
(4) To handle random pulses at a rate
of 4000 per second with less than one
percent coincidence loss.
(5) The preamplifier must operate reliably
at -80 ± 20°C ambient temperature.
The pulse amplifier should give satis-
factory operation in 20 ±400C environ-
ment.
In view of the complexity of the problem, i.e., the
amplifier sensitivityl requirement, the severe
environmental conditions, and the long life ex-
pectancy, it was decided to design first a pulse
amplifier capable of satisfying all the require-
ments with the possible exception of probable
survival for one year. However, in developing the
basic amplifier, the principles for improved relia-
bility were employed in selection of the circuit
configuration and circuit components.
Basic Circuits
Unit Amplifier
The term "Unit Amplifier' used in this
section applies to both the preamplifier and the
Q IRE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE November
amplifier since these circuits are identical. The PULSE
PRE-
MAIN
PULSE
AMPLIFIER AMPLIFIER
Unit Amplifier consists of three direct-coupled A IN
PHAT DELAY LINE
transistor stages. The first two stages utilize A. MULTIPLIER PULSA

the common emitter configuration (Ql and QZ), 'IN RI

and the last stage is an emitter follower (Q3), CIN = TOTAL CAPACITANCE ASSOCIATED
WITH THE PREAMPLIFIER INPUT,
CONSISTING OF THE PREAMPLIFIER
PULSES FROM P.M. T, RIN C IN INPUT CAPACITANCE, PHOTOMULTIPLIER
APPEARING ACROAN OUTPUT CAPACITANCE AND SIGNAL
M AND R
IN NN CABLE CAPACITANCE
_ - R lN EFFECTAVE PREAMPLIFIER
TOTAL
TIME INPUT RESISTANCE
T. RI CN
PULSES AFTER A.IN
C. PREAMPLIFIER ANM \EIN - IF RIN CIN AT
PULSE SHAPING CIN
_§L~~~~~~~~TM _[I_ -1O0t

Fig. 3-Pulse amplification and the associated wave

forms.

and it can be shown that the closed ioop voltage

amplification (Eout /Ein ) can be approximated by:

Fig. 1-Basic unit amplifier circuit diagram.
as shown in Figure 1. This type of amplifier is
characterized by high open loop voltage amplifica-
tion, proportional to the product of the hFE of the
first two transistors. The open loop voltage
amplification is sensitive to transistor parameter
variations caused by temperature, aging, supply
voltage, and manufacturing. Gain stability over
the wide temperature variations encountered in
the satellite application and for the required long
life, is accomplished by the liberal use of nega-
tive voltage feedback.
Referring to Figure 2, the voltage appearing
across the resistor RF is fed back to the input,
E
R 1 +R F
out
(1)
E R
in F
The error associated with Equation (1) is small
if open loop voltage amplification G is high; hence
considerable variation of circuit parameters can
be tolerated.
Adequate stability of bias conditions is pro-
vided by the large emitter resistor Rl, RZ and
R3, with RZ and R3 bypassed for signal fre-
quencies.
The required signal threshold of 4 x 10
coulombs per event imposes the need for low
noise in the preamplifier. Noise is reduced
first by electrostatic shielding and by eliminating
all ground loops. Employing a transistor with
high hFE and a large fab at small collector cur-
rents in the preamplifier first stage, will further
reduce the noise.

Pulse Shaping
The output of a photomultiplier is in the
form of a charge increment AQ which is de-
posited on the effective input capacitance of the
preamplifier. As depicted in Figure 3, each
charge increment AQ causes a voltage step AEin
followed by an exponential decay. To prevent the
amplifier from overloading, delay-line pulse
shaping is used in this application because of its
advantages over other pulse-shaping methods.3' 4
A typical delay-line pulse-shaping network is
shown in Figure 4, together with the associated
Fig. 2-Basic unit amplifier block diagram. wave forms.

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1962 SOMER: REDUNDANT PULSE AMPLIFIER 9
Redundancy for Improved Reliability
General Redundancy Considerations

The first step towards a reliable circuit de-

sign is the use of highly reliable, conservatiovely
rated, circuit components and a sound circuit de-
A. sign. After designing a reliable basic circuit,
redundancy may be used for further increasing the
probability of system survival,
RINCIN
Using the published failure rates of com-
ponents in Table 1, it is apparent that the reliability
of the basic circuit will be dominated by the
number of transistors. The application of a re-
dundancy technique to this circuit will then depend
on the best method of improving the circuit

-V INPUT FROM PREAMPLIFIER

tolerance to transistor failures.
V - REFLECTED PULSE
-P - SHAPED PULSE, EQUAL TO THE
VECTOR SUMOF V +[-VI
The two most appropriate schemes are:
DELAY TIME
(1) Circuit redundancy, which entails
-

the use of two identical amplifiers

Fig. 4-Pulse shaping network and the associated (three transistors each) with
wave forms. common input and output circuits.

Table 1-Failure Rates

** STARTING PRNEO
MINUTE MARTIN ELECTRO POINT PRNCETON
MAN CO. TEC; STL PONT, (HUFNAGEL)
AUTONETICS
RESISTORS 0.00002 0.003 0.025 0.0015 0.04 0.011
CAPAC ITOR
SMALL VALUE 0.00001 0.0025 0.005 0.001 0.001 0.0011

ARGEITORUE
CAPAC ITOR
0.00012 0.012* {

TANTALUM
CAPACITOR 0.010* ll

TRANSISTOR 0.00360 0.05 0.045 0.018 0.07 0.03

POWER
TRANSISTOR 0.01 0. l*
DIODES 0.000035 0.02 0.30 0.0036 0.02 0.0045
ZENER
00100 4
DIODES 0.00140 0.014l
RECTIFIERS 0.00150 0.015*b
DELAY LINES* 0.00010 0.001*
TRANSFORMERS 0.00002 0.001* l l

NOTE: Failures in percent per 1000 hours =failures per 105 unit-hours.
*Indicates estimates by Bendix to fit general pattern.
Referred to as "commercial failure rates" in the text.

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10 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE
Fig. 5-Redundant pulse amplifier block diagram.
(2) Stage redundancy, which consists
of coupling the three transistor
stages to three identical stages
and providing cross-coupling at
each stage.
Stage redundancy offers the most significant
reliability improvement if collector-to- emitter
shorts are neglected. Circuit redundancy does
not match the reliability improvement of stage
redundancy, but does tolerate collector-to-
emitter shorts of the transistors.
The choice between the two approaches must
then depend on what percent of the transistor
failure rate is determined by the collector-to-
emitter shorts. This is complicated, due to the
limited data published on the breakdown of
transistor failures by failure mode.
From the analysis of the two redundant
circuit configurations, it was concluded that
circuit redundancy should be employed until there
is sufficient statistical proof (in the form of
actual transistor failure data) to indicate that
shorts between the transistor electrodes (base,
emitter, collector) constitute only a minute frac-
tion (much less than 2 percent) of the total failure
modes.
Circuit redundancy was used in these pulse
amplifiers for the reasons listed below:
(1) Circuit redundancy results in an
amplifier which maintains its
normal operating characteristics
even when short circuits do occur
in transistors or in passive cir-
cuit components.
(2) The two redundant circuits of
the pulse amplifier are completely
independent from each other. Any
failure in one signal path has the
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November
minimum effect on the bias points
of the other signal path. With stage
redundancy, this type of indepen-
dence is much harder to achieve,
if not impossible.
(3) According to experimental data,
lower noise is obtained with cir-
cuit redundancy.
Functional Redundant Pulse Amplifier
The complete redundant pulse amplifier is
composed of four identical Unit Amplifiers in a
parallel- redundant configuration. Active redun-
dancy is utilized on the subcircuit level. This is
accomplished by two independent preamplifiers
within a common feedback loop, and also by two
independent main amplifiers within a common
feedback loop, as shown in Figure 5. The feed-
back resistor shared by the preamplifiers main-
tains the composite preamplifier output for most
of the failures occurring in one or the other pre-
amplifier. Constant gain is maintained similarly
by the feedback resistor shared by the main pulse
amplifiers. External to the preamplifier and
main amplifier feedback loops, the preamplifier
inputs are isolated from each other as a protec-
tion against preamplifier input shorts. The pre-
amplifier outputs are likewise isolated from each
other. Identical protective measures are em-
ployed in the redundant main pulse amplifier.
Redundant Pulse Amplifier Circuit
The redundant pulse amplifier circuit dia-
gram, composed of four Unit Amplifiers, is shown
in Figure 6. The basic Unit Amplifier circuitry
is unaltered except for the minor circuit changes
or additions required to produce the redundant
configuration. The signal from the photomultiplier
is coupled to the preamplifier input, Ql and Q2,
through Cl, R1 and CZ, RZ. The capacitors Cl
and C2 provide dc decoupling, and the resistors
Rl and R2 provide signal decoupling, thereby
preventing signal shunting, should one
preamplifier input short. The feedback resistor
R51 is now shared by the two redundant preampli-
fiers. Under normal operation, both preamplifiers
contribute equally to the feedback voltage appearing
across R51. However, if for any reason the con-
tribution to this feedback voltage from one pre-
amplifier decreases, the other preamplifier will
assume the load and thus make up for the decrease.
As a result, considerable signal current variation
1962 SOMER: REDUNDANT PULSE AMPLIFIER 11

r-
- -

REDUNDANT PRE AMPLIFIER - -

REDUNDANT MAIN PULSE AMPLIFIER
LI R49 LS
I R7
C5 R9 il a
R
i R 8.5 V

CCs Cii
I k C3
.R3
I I~~~~~~~a
I~~~~~0
Ql

II I I~~~C
Rc ,R13 tRass
R15
'-R21
RU
C9 R19 13
adI

T- -8.5 V

1-OUTPUT

|
TOTAL CAPACITANCE

_ _,
F

Fig. 6-Redundant pulse amplifier circuit diagram.

1.05

1.00"-
I--

0.95-
L
0.0 a- CONSTANT PULSE INPUT
I-a- AQIN 2 2.7 xIO13 COULOMBS
120 PULSES PER SECOND
0.90- l 260C AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
LUJ
C:3

Szz
O0 0
0.85

0.80 -

OD
8
0.75- (L
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
DC SUPPLY VOLTAGE (VOLTS)
SUM OF THE PLUS AND MINUS SUPPLY POTENTIALS

Fig. 7-Redundant pulse amplifier gain with DC supply voltage variations at room temperature.

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12 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE
can be tolerated in one preamplifier, including a
complete failure!
The input from each preamplifier is coupled
independently through separate coaxial cables to
the main amplifier housing. Protection against
short-circuiting the output of either preamplifier
is provided by the delay-line terminating resistors
R23 and R24. Constant signal voltage is impressed
upon the delay line for constant signal input,
provided that at least one of the preamplifiers is
operating. The resistors R25 and R26 protect the
delay line from being shunted in case of an ampli-
fier input short. The capacitors C15, C16, C17,
and C18, provide dc decoupling. The gain control
for the main amplifier is the same as for the re-
dundant preamplifier.
November
indicates that the redundant pulse amplifier gain
is constant within +0.5 and -1.0 percent for supply
voltage variations from +4.5 v to +20 v for the
positive supply and with the negative supply volt-
ages of -4.5 v and -20 v respectively.
The preamplifier gain variations at low
temperatures are shown in Figure 8. During
these tests, the main pulse amplifier ambient
temperature was maintained at +65 C, and the
preamplifier ambient temperature was varied in

Experimental Test Data

Temperature and Supply Variation Effects

The 12 GE Type 2N338 transistors used in

all tests were randomly selected from units whose
direct current transfer ratio was limited to the
range of 67 < h < 82.
FE-=
The redundant pulse amplifier parameters
.F
are summarized in Table 2. Many of these para-
meters would be improved by a factor of two if no
redundancy were used. Hence, the price that is
paid for extended life expectancy is a slight
initial performance degradation.

The redundant pulse amplifier voltage ampli-

fication as a function of dc supply voltage at room
temperature is shown in Figure 7. This curve

Table 2-Redundant Pulse Amplifier Parameters

INPUT CAPACITANCE........................ 40 MICROMICROFARADS AQIN 10 14COULOMB

x

INPUT RESISTANCE .......... 70 KILO-OHMS 120 PULSES/SEC

OUTPUT IMPEDANCE .... ...... 320 OHMS

OVER-ALL VOLTAGE GAIN (250C) .
PULSE RISE
TIME.....02MCOEND
.
(AFTER DELAY LINE) (10% - 90%)
PULSE FALL TIME
(AFTER DELAY LINE) (10o - 90%).
OVER-ALL AMPLIFIER RESOLUTION TIME
WITH QIN <4 x i10-3 COULOMBS .
OVER-ALL AMPLIFIER RESOLUTION TIME
WITH QIN . 2 x 10-11 COULOMBS
EQUIVALENT PEAK INPUT NOISE .
TOTAL POWER CONSUMPTION
(AT +8.5 VOLT SUPPLY) .260 MLLIWATTs
Fig. 8-Redundant preamplifier gain with supply
20 voltage and ambient temperature variations.
the range from -1000C up to -60 0C. (It should be
noted that the preamplifier and the main amplifier
.25 MICROSECONDS used in these temperature tests were constructed
from standard +5 and *10 percent carbon resis-
2 MlCROSECONDS
tors and metalized paper capacitors with a temper-
ature rating from -300C to + 850C.) The pre-
---....4 MICROSECONDS amplifier gain is constant within 44 percent over
1 x 10X14 COULOMBS the temperature range from -1000C up to -600C,
X8_ without any special transistor selection, except
that 67 < hFE <. 82. By selecting high hFE
0.

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1962 SOMER: REDUNDANT PULSE AMPLIFIER 13

Table 3-Redundant Pulse Amplifier Output with Simulated Transistor Failures

NORMAL E0 = 150 MV ALL TRANSISTORS WITH 67. hFE 82

PREAMPLIFIER AT -85°
AMPLIFIER AT +650
D-C SUPPLY VOLTAGE IS VARIED +2V FROM
THE NOMINAL 17 VOLTS
TYPE OF
OF EMITTER-BASE-COLLECTOR C

FAILRE
FAILURE
OPEN BASE OPEN COLLECTOR OPEN EMITTER
_____________SHORT SHORT |

Eo (MV) WITH Vs Eo (MV) WITH Vs Eo (MV) WITH Vs Eo (MV) WITH Vs

TRANSISTOR AS A PARAMETER AS A PARAMETER AS A PARAMETER AS A PARAMETER
15 VOLTS 17 VOLTS 19 VOLTS 15 VOLTS 17 VOLTS 19 VOLTS 15 VOLTS 17 VOLTS 19 VOLTS 15 VOLTS 17 VOLTS 19 VOLTS

Q1 160 160 160 150 150 150 160 160 160 150 150 150

Q3 148 148 148 152 152 152 150 150 150 150 150 150

Q5 152 152 152 150 150 150 152 152 152 150 150 150

Q2 155 155 155 145 145 145 145 145 145 130 130 130
Q4 130 130 130 125 130 145 130 130 130 190 290 320

Q6 130 130 130 120 120 120 130 130 130 130 130 130

Q7 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 155 160
Q9 150 150 150 200 210 220 145 147 150 140 145 150
Q1l 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150
Q8 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 155 160
Q1O 150 150 150 200 210 220 150 150 150 150 155 160
Q12 150 150 150 150 150 150 150
o
150 150 150 150 150 OD

(hFE > 80) and low noise transistors for the pre-
amplifier first stage, the voltage amplification
will be constant within ±2 percent from -100OC up
0
to -60 C and with simultaneous supply voltage
variations. Under similar conditions the equiva-
lent noise will be less than 2 x 10-14 coulombs at
-100 C and at the nominal supply voltages.
Transistor Failures
In Table 3 the redundant pulse amplifier out-
put is shown for the various indicated transistor
failures. During these tests the redundant pre-
amplifier was maintained at -85 C and the re-
dundant main amplifier at +65 C with the input
constant at AQin = 2.75 x 10-13 coulombs per
pulse. For simplicity, all failures were intro-
duced one at a time. However, various open and
short combinations were examined, resulting in
similar gain stability. One of the odd-numbered
transistors in one of the preamplifiers was found
to have deteriorated outside the transistor selec-
tion criteria during these tests. Consequently,
the preamplifier with the odd-numbered transis-
tors exhibited somewhat inferior gain stability
during simulated failures when compared to the
preamplifier with even-numbered transistors.
Disregarding the results of the preamplifier with
odd-numbered transistors, the redundant pulse
amplifier output is stable within about ±3 percent
for 85 percent of the simulated catastrophic
failures.
Reliability
Background
As an introduction to the art of reliability,
a definition should satisfy the cursory reader.
Reliability is the probability that a component,
device or a system will perform its prescribed

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 Table 4-Pulse Amplifier Reliability Calculations

GENERIC FAILURE RATE MINUTEMAN FAILURE RATES COMMERCIAL FAILURE RATES

PROBABILITY OF FAILURE PARTS COUNT/CIRCUIT Z COMPONENT F R/HOUR Z COMPONENT FR/HOUR
UNIT/HOUR COMMON COMMON R COMMON
PARTS MINUTEMAN COMMERCIAL PREAMP. AMP. CIRCUIT PREAMP. AMP CIRCUIT PREAMP. AMP. CIRCUIT
2x10~~ ~ 10
~~~10 -100 -10 -10 -10
R ESISTORS 2 x
Y 10 | 150 x 10 11 14 3 |2 | 8 x1
ZxI Z810 6x106 1650X10410 210ox10 450x1O
CAPACITORS
SMALL VALUE 1 100 1 1 100
CAPACITORS -
LARGE VALUE 12 120 6 9 7Z 108 720 1080
TRANSISTORS-SWITCH 360 1800 3 3 1080 1080 5400 5400 H

CHOKES 10 100 2 2 1 20 20 10 200 200 100

z
DELAY LINE 10 100 1 10 100 coI
-10
-10 -10 -10 ~~~~ 0
-10
~~~~~-10
EFR CIRCUIT FAILURE/HOUR 1195x10 | 1236x10 26x10 |8070x10 18780x10 450x10
z
* -~ ~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ -6-6
t FR CIRCUIT FAILURE/YEAR 1050x1x 1085x10 |2.8x10 7080X10 7700x ~~~~~~~~610-6-6 | 570x 10 -6 z
6 6
ft FR) REDUNDANT CIRCUIT FAILURE/YEAR 1.15x10 1. 18x10 50.Zx 1O-6 59.4 x10-6
|Q TOTAL OF CIRCUIT PROBABABILITY ZZ 8 X 10 6 570 10 6
OF FAILURE PREDICTION FOR ONE YEAR 2.18 x57x z
MISSION TIME (1 CHANNEL) 1.15 50.2 C)~

tTj
25.13x 10 679.6
Q PROBABILITY OF FAILURE (6 CHANNELS)
Q = 6 (Q) 150.78 x 10-6 4147.6 x 10

~~~4
t = 0.876 x 10 HOURS FOR MISSION TIME OF ONE YEAR
* ~-tFR
Q = 1 - E (PROBABILITY OF FAILURE IS EQUAL TO
ONE MINUS PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS)
WHERE t 0
FR<<
t F toQ
R Z
0

CD

CT,
CD
*1

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1962 SOMER: REDUNDANT PULSE AMPLIFIER 15
function for a specified period of time under (3) Redundant Pulse Amplifier,
given conditions. Commercial Parts (complete
circuit, Figure 6):
Most work on reliability assumes an expon- P(year) = 0.99932.
ential distribution:
-F t (4) Redundant Pulse Amplifier,
P(t) = e r (2) MINUTEMAN Parts:
P = 0.999974.
Here: P(t) = reliability of device. This is the (year)-
probability that the device will Since the pulse amplifier constitutes only a
operate successfully for a speci- small fraction of the complete satellite electronics,
fied period of time t. the above indicated reliability, P(year)- 0.999974,
is satisfactory if the whole electronics is to meet
t = desired lifetime of device in hours, the 0.95 reliability goal.

e = base of natural logarithm. Acknowledgements

F = sum of the failure rates of all
r
the components in the system
in percent per 1000 hours.
For further details in reliability theory and the
various approaches to the reliability calculations,
the reader is referred to references 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
and 10.
Redundant Pulse Amplifier
Reliability Calculations
The redundant pulse amplifier reliability is
calculated using the MINUTEMAN and commercial
failure rates. Since no attempt has been made to
correlate the component failure rate confidence
level with the circuit (system) confidence level,
the numerical results should not be taken as
absolute values,10 but rather as indicators of the
relative improvement on reliability, i.e., redun.
dant circuit using MINUTEMAN parts as compared
to the redundant circuit using commercial parts.
The various reliability predictions can be
calculated using the failure rates from Table 1 in
conjunction with Equation (2). These calculations
are tabulated in Table 4. From Table 4 the reli-
ability predictions are summarized below for
convenience:
(1) Nonredundant Pulse Amplifier,
Commercial Parts (upper half
of circuit as shown in Figure 6):
P = 0.984.
(year )
(2) Nonredundant Pulse Amplifier,
MINUTEMAN Parts:
P(year) = 0.9978.
The author is grateful to Mr. Robert R. Hoge,
whose recommendations were helpful in the
development of the redundant pulse amplifier, and
to Mr. Allen E. McCardell, who performed all
the reliability studies and calculations.
References
1. E. Fairstein, "Considerations in the Design
of Pulse Amplifiers for Use with Solid State
Radiation Detectors," IRE Trans. on Nuclear
Sciences, pp. 129-146; January, 1961.
2. R. F. Shea, "Principles of Transistor Cir-
cuits," John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York,
N. Y., pp. 438-452; 1953.
3. W. C. Elmore and M. Sands, "Electronics,"
McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, N. Y.,
pp. 127-160; 1949.
4. F. S. Goulding, R. W. Nicholson and
J. B. Waugh, "A Double Delay Line Linear
Amplifier Employing Transistors," Nuclear
Instrument and Methods, pp. 272-281;
September, 1960.
5. "Life Test Analysis Reports," Texas Instru-
ments, Second Quarter 1959 through Second
Quarter 1961.
6. D. J. Davis, "An Analysis of Some Failure
Data," Journal of the American Statistical
Association, vol. 47, No. 258; June, 1952.
7. Robert Lusser, "Predicting Reliability,"
Research and Development Division, Ordnance
Missile Laboratories, Redstone Arsenal;
October, 1957.

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16 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON NUCLEAR SCIENCE November
8. Vernon L. Grose, "Reliability Planning in 10. R. 0. Frantik, "Some Research Activities
Space Systems, "Missile Design and Develop- Pertaining to Reliability," Sandia Corporation,
ment; September, 1960. Reprint, SCR-5; February, 1958.
9. R. Lusser, "Unreliability of Electrons--
Cause and Cure," Research and Development
Division, Ordnance Mis siLe Laboratories,
Redstone Arsenal; November, 1957.

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