Using failure modes and effects simulation as a means of reliability analysis

Failure modes and effects simulation analysis (FMES) is introduced as an effective way to do both failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) and reliability analysis. Using FMES, a system is described as a connected set of components. A component is defined by its interconnects (inputs and outputs), its state (the component and its outputs can occupy different states), and its behavioral description. Behavioral descriptions characterize how changes occur in the component and its output states. The FMES technique has been evaluated in a tool called the Reliability Estimation Testbed (REST). A reliability modeling language (RML) was developed as part of REST to support FMES. REST and the RML have been used to analyze a system consisting of a quad computer connected to two reconfiguring mesh networks and several quad redundant devices, a system totaling 100 components. On more than one occasion the FMES approach has produced analyses which uncovered errors in hand-generated models