IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jstats/v8y2025i1p11-d1576734.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of Reliability Allocation Methods for Electronic Systems: A Systematic and Bibliometric Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Rajkumar B. Patil

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Vile Parle (West), Mumbai 400056, India
    Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE), University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • San Kyeong

    (Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE), University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Michael Pecht

    (Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE), University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Rahul A. Gujar

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, Pune 411044, India)

  • Sandip Mane

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Vile Parle (West), Mumbai 400056, India)

Abstract

Reliability allocation is the process of assigning reliability targets to sub-systems within a system to meet the overall reliability requirements. However, many traditional reliability allocation methods rely on assumptions that are often unrealistic, leading to misleading, unachievable, and costly outcomes. This paper provides a historical review of reliability allocation methods, focusing on the Weighing Factor Method (WFM), with a detailed analysis of its main findings, assumptions, and limitations. Additionally, the review covers methods for reliability optimization, redundancy optimization, and multi-state system optimization, highlighting their strengths and shortcomings. A case study is presented to demonstrate how the assumption of an exponential distribution impacts the reliability allocation process, showing the limitations it imposes on practical implementations. Furthermore, a bibliometric analysis is conducted to assess publication trends in the field of reliability allocation. Through examples, particularly in the context of electronic systems using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components, the challenges are discussed, and recommendations for alternative approaches to improve the reliability allocation process are provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Rajkumar B. Patil & San Kyeong & Michael Pecht & Rahul A. Gujar & Sandip Mane, 2025. "Assessment of Reliability Allocation Methods for Electronic Systems: A Systematic and Bibliometric Analysis," Stats, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-32, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jstats:v:8:y:2025:i:1:p:11-:d:1576734
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-905X/8/1/11/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2571-905X/8/1/11/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huang, Xianzhen & Coolen, Frank P.A. & Coolen-Maturi, Tahani, 2019. "A heuristic survival signature based approach for reliability-redundancy allocation," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 511-517.
    2. Wenting Liu & Qingliang Zeng & Lirong Wan & Chenglong Wang, 2019. "A Comprehensive Method of Apportioning Reliability Goals for New Product of Hydraulic Excavator," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-11, April.
    3. Zhang, Hanxiao & Sun, Muxia & Li, Yan-Fu, 2022. "Reliability–redundancy allocation problem in multi-state flow network: Minimal cut-based approximation scheme," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    4. Lisnianski, Anatoly & Elmakias, David & Laredo, David & Ben Haim, Hanoch, 2012. "A multi-state Markov model for a short-term reliability analysis of a power generating unit," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 1-6.
    5. Yu, Haiyang & Chu, Chengbin & Châtelet, Ėric & Yalaoui, Farouk, 2007. "Reliability optimization of a redundant system with failure dependencies," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 92(12), pages 1627-1634.
    6. Yadav, Om Prakash & Singh, Nanua & Goel, Parveen S., 2006. "Reliability demonstration test planning: A three dimensional consideration," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 91(8), pages 882-893.
    7. Yadav, Om Prakash & Zhuang, Xing, 2014. "A practical reliability allocation method considering modified criticality factors," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 57-65.
    8. Kim, Kyungmee O. & Yang, Yoonjung & Zuo, Ming J., 2013. "A new reliability allocation weight for reducing the occurrence of severe failure effects," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 81-88.
    9. Kim, Heungseob & Kim, Pansoo, 2017. "Reliability–redundancy allocation problem considering optimal redundancy strategy using parallel genetic algorithm," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 153-160.
    10. Subba Rao V. Majety & Milind Dawande & Jayant Rajgopal, 1999. "Optimal Reliability Allocation with Discrete Cost-Reliability Data for Components," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(6), pages 899-906, December.
    11. Kyungmee O. Kim & Ming J. Zuo, 2015. "Effects of subsystem mission time on reliability allocation," IISE Transactions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(3), pages 285-293, March.
    12. Zheng, Yide & Zhang, Yi, 2023. "Reliability analysis for system with dependent components based on survival signature and copula theory," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    13. Kuei-Hu Chang, 2016. "A novel reliability allocation approach using the OWA tree and soft set," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 244(1), pages 3-22, September.
    14. Modibbo, Umar Muhammad & Arshad, Mohd. & Abdalghani, Omer & Ali, Irfan, 2021. "Optimization and estimation in system reliability allocation problem," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    15. Yankun Wang & Binbin Xu & Tianqi Ma & Ziyue Wang, 2020. "Research on the Reliability Allocation Method for a Production System Based on Availability," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2020, pages 1-9, January.
    16. Antony Gratas Varuvel & Pratibha Xavier Pruno, 2019. "Reliability allocation technique for complex system of systems," International Journal of Reliability and Safety, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(1/2), pages 61-82.
    17. Tan, Zhizhong & Wu, Bei & Che, Ada, 2023. "Resilience modeling for multi-state systems based on Markov processes," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    18. Yeh, Wei-Chang & Zhu, Wenbo & Tan, Shi-Yi & Wang, Gai-Ge & Yeh, Yuan-Hui, 2022. "Novel general active reliability redundancy allocation problems and algorithm," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 218(PA).
    19. Nath, Rahul & Muhuri, Pranab K., 2022. "Evolutionary Optimization based Solution approaches for Many Objective Reliability-Redundancy Allocation Problem," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    20. Li, Shuai & Chi, Xuefen & Yu, Baozhu, 2022. "An improved particle swarm optimization algorithm for the reliability–redundancy allocation problem with global reliability," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    21. Li, Xianxiong & Lan, Xinbo & Mirzaei, A & Aghdam Bonab, Mohammad Jalilvand, 2022. "Reliability and robust resource allocation for Cache-enabled HetNets: QoS-aware mobile edge computing," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    22. Coit, David W. & Zio, Enrico, 2019. "The evolution of system reliability optimization," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Hanxiao & Sun, Muxia & Li, Yan-Fu, 2022. "Reliability–redundancy allocation problem in multi-state flow network: Minimal cut-based approximation scheme," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    2. Nath, Rahul & Muhuri, Pranab K., 2024. "A novel evolutionary solution approach for many-objective reliability-redundancy allocation problem based on objective prioritization and constraint optimization," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    3. Chowdury, Md. Abdul Malek & Nath, Rahul & Shukla, Amit K. & Rauniyar, Amit & Muhuri, Pranab K., 2024. "Multi-task optimization in reliability redundancy allocation problem: A multifactorial evolutionary-based approach," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    4. Li, Shuai & Chi, Xuefen & Yu, Baozhu, 2022. "An improved particle swarm optimization algorithm for the reliability–redundancy allocation problem with global reliability," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    5. Yeh, Wei-Chang, 2022. "BAT-based algorithm for finding all Pareto solutions of the series-parallel redundancy allocation problem with mixed components," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    6. Levitin, Gregory & Xing, Liudong & Dai, Yuanshun, 2023. "Optimizing partial component activation policy in multi-attempt missions," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 235(C).
    7. Zhang, Zixuan & Yang, Lin & Xu, Youwei & Zhu, Ran & Cao, Yining, 2023. "A novel reliability redundancy allocation problem formulation for complex systems," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    8. Mellal, Mohamed Arezki & Zio, Enrico & Al-Dahidi, Sameer & Masuyama, Naoki & Nojima, Yusuke, 2023. "System design optimization with mixed subsystems failure dependencies," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    9. Gholinezhad, Hadi, 2024. "A new model for reliability redundancy allocation problem with component mixing," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    10. Levitin, Gregory & Xing, Liudong & Dai, Yuanshun, 2024. "Optimal tasks assignment policy in multi-task multi-attempt missions," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    11. Hsieh, Tsung-Jung, 2023. "A Q-learning guided search for developing a hybrid of mixed redundancy strategies to improve system reliability," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    12. Kim, Kyungmee O. & Zuo, Ming J., 2018. "Optimal allocation of reliability improvement target based on the failure risk and improvement cost," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 104-110.
    13. Peiravi, Abdossaber & Nourelfath, Mustapha & Zanjani, Masoumeh Kazemi, 2022. "Universal redundancy strategy for system reliability optimization," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    14. Enrico Zio & Hadi Gholinezhad, 2023. "Redundancy Allocation of Components with Time-Dependent Failure Rates," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-27, August.
    15. Eslami Baladeh, Aliakbar & Taghipour, Sharareh, 2022. "Reliability optimization of dynamic k-out-of-n systems with competing failure modes," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    16. Zaretalab, Arash & Sharifi, Mani & Guilani, Pedram Pourkarim & Taghipour, Sharareh & Niaki, Seyed Taghi Akhavan, 2022. "A multi-objective model for optimizing the redundancy allocation, component supplier selection, and reliable activities for multi-state systems," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    17. Ling, Chunyan & Yang, Lechang & Feng, Kaixuan & Kuo, Way, 2023. "Survival signature based robust redundancy allocation under imprecise probability," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    18. Qiu, Siqi & Ming, Xinguo & Sallak, Mohamed & Lu, Jialiang, 2022. "A Birnbaum importance-based two-stage approach for two-type component assignment problems," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 218(PA).
    19. Yuxiong Li & Xianzhen Huang & Xinong En & Pengfei Ding, 2019. "A New System Reliability Optimization Model Based on Swapping Existing Components," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-14, November.
    20. Kowal, Karol, 2022. "Lifetime reliability and availability simulation for the electrical system of HTTR coupled to the electricity-hydrogen cogeneration plant," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jstats:v:8:y:2025:i:1:p:11-:d:1576734. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.