Optimization of System Reliability by a New Nonlinear Integer Programming Procedure

This paper presents a useful procedure of solving nonlinear integer programming problems. It finds, first, a pseudo-solution to the problem, as if the variables were continuous. Then it uses direct search in the neighbourhood of the pseudo-solution to find the optimum. The effectiveness of the method is shown with a 15-variable problem, which requires about 1 day´s FORTRAN programming effort and 8 seconds of computer time for its solution on an IBM 370/165 digital computer.