Optimal periodic testing policy for circuit with self-testing

This paper considers periodic testing policies for a system with self-testing. The system can detect its failure by either self-testing or periodic inspection. If the system fails then its failure is detected by self-testing while it is on-line, or otherwise, it is detected at the next periodic test. Introducing the loss cost elapsed between a failure and its detection, the expected costs are obtained. Optimal intervals of periodic testing which minimize the expected costs are analytically derived. Numerical examples are given when both times of failure and its detection by self-testing are exponential distributions.