Numerical Approach to Electronic Reliability

This paper describes the progress at Rome Air Development Center (RADC) in converting reliability from a black art to a science. A brief history of and the need for a reliability program for Air Force ground electronic equipment are described. Also described are the results to date and future efforts and expected results. The RADC reliability program has had as its aim the development of techniques for quantitatively specifying; measuring and predicting the reliability of Air Force ground electronic equipment. Concurrently with these efforts, RADC has been pursuing a program of improved design techniques in such areas as cooling, reliable circuit design, redundancy and preferred circuits. The following achievements are described: a reliability design handbook; a cooling techniques handbook; reliability specifications for development and production equipments which quantitatively specify the reliability to be achieved and outline the test procedure to determine whether the specified figure has been met; a reliability design procedure which permits an engineer to design electronic equipment to meet a specified reliability figure; and a prediction technique which permits a designer to predict, within limits, the quantitative reliability that an equipment will achieve in the field.