Coverage Modeling and Optimal Maintenance Frequency of an Automated Restoration Mechanism

In this paper, the coverage modeling of an automated restoration mechanism with two components is studied, and optimal maintenance frequencies are determined. Failures and repairs are exponentially distributed for the two components, while the failures of the automated mechanism follow a Weibull distribution. A corrective maintenance policy is considered for each component whereas, for the automated restoration mechanism, an additional preventive maintenance is taken into account. The system is modeled with a continuous time Markov chain and two performability indicators: one performability indicator modeling the downtime, and a second one modeling the overall operational cost. Consequently, two optimal maintenance frequencies are derived: first by minimizing the downtime, and second by minimizing the overall operational cost. A numerical example is used to evaluate the applicability of the proposed method.