Analysis of noncoherent systems and an architecture for the computation of the system reliability

An efficient technique for computing the reliability of k-to-l-out-of-n systems is presented. These kinds of systems find application in communication, multiprocessor, and transportation system environments. The k-to-l-out-of- n systems are very general and readily model coherent systems such as series, parallel, and N-modular-redundancy (NMR) systems. The algorithm presented computes in quadratic time in the worst case and yields superior results compared to existing algorithms for all permissible values of k, l, and n. The scheme is shown to evaluate the reliability in linear order-time. A cellular implementation of the algorithm in hardware is presented. The basic cell consists of a simple multiplier, an adder, and some switches that can be easily implemented in VLSI using computer-aided-design (CAD) tools. Ways of obtaining optimal configurations for the k-to-l-out-of-n system are discussed