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

Rajkumar B. Patil (), San Kyeong, Michael Pecht, Rahul A. Gujar and Sandip Mane
Additional contact information
Rajkumar B. Patil: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dwarkadas J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, Vile Parle (West), Mumbai 400056, India
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

Stats, 2025, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-32

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.

Keywords: electronic systems; reliability allocation; redundancy allocation; weighing factor methods; bibliometric analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C1 C10 C11 C14 C15 C16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-905X/8/1/11/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-905X/8/1/11/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jstats:v:8:y:2025:i:1:p:11-:d:1576734

Access Statistics for this article

Stats is currently edited by Mrs. Minnie Li

More articles in Stats from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().