Evaluating Control Systems Reliability

This book is intended to serve a wide variety of users. This updated third edition provides the detailed background necessary to understand how to meet important new safety regulations and reliability engineering topics. Professional control system designers will learn to properly evaluate control system components, various system architectures, how to better communicate with vendors, and how to increase accuracy of life-cycle cost estimates. The book is also an excellent text for college courses due to its detailed explanations, practical presentation, and discussion of the difference between theory and real-world application. It provides a basic foundation of material, including probability, statistics, reliability theory definitions, and basic reliability modeling techniques, as well as advanced topics relevant to safety instrumented and control systems. Each chapter contains exercises to assist the reader in applying the theories presented with their practical implementation.

This manual applies reliability and safety evaluation techniques to control systems, presenting modelling methods in a systematic manner. Examples are used throughout the text to underline the concepts, and each mathematical formula is explained in detail.

This book provides a collection of tools to help the control engineer evaluate the safety and reliability of automated systems. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Reliability Block Diagrams (RBD), Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Markov modeling methods are described with many examples. The key issues including component failure modes, on-line diagnostics, common cause, software reliability and operational safety are discussed along with design rules for building better systems. Safety Instrumented Systems (SIS) analysis techniques needed to meet new regulations are covered from sensor to final element. Reference material including sample failure rates, a glossary of terms, probability math review and data tables are supplied in a number of appendixes. Contents: Understanding Random Events Failures - Stress vs. Strength Reliability and Safety Failure Modes and Effects Analysis Fault Tree Analysis Network Modeling markov Modeling Diagnostics Common Cause Software Reliability System Modeling System Architectures Safety Instrumented Systems and Life Cycle Costing.

The subject of system reliability evaluation has never been so extensively and incisively discussed as in the present volume. The book fills a gap in the existing literature on the subject by highlighting the shortcomings of the current state-of-the-art and focusing on on-going efforts aimed at seeking better models, improved solutions and alternative approaches to the problem of system reliability evaluation. The book's foremost objective is to provide an insight into developments that are likely to revolutionize the art and science in the near future. At the same time it will help serve as a benchmark for the reader not only to understand and appreciate the newer developments but to profitably guide him in reorienting his efforts. This book will be valuable for people working in various industries, research organizations, particularly in electrical and electronics, defence, nuclear, chemical, space and communciation systems. It will also be useful for serious-minded students, teachers, and for the laboratories of educational institutions.

This is a comprehensive guide to fault injection techniques used to evaluate the dependability of a digital system. The description and the critical analysis of different fault injection techniques and tools are authored by key scientists in the field of system dependability and fault tolerance.

“Reliability and Risk Issues in Large Scale Safety-critical Digital Control Systems” provides a comprehensive coverage of reliability issues and their corresponding countermeasures in the field of large-scale digital control systems, from the hardware and software in digital systems to the human operators who supervise the overall process of large-scale systems. Unlike other books which examine theories and issues in individual fields, this book reviews important problems and countermeasures across the fields of software reliability, software verification and validation, digital systems, human factors engineering and human reliability analysis. Divided into four sections dealing with software reliability, digital system reliability, human reliability and human operators in large-scale digital systems, the book offers insights from professional researchers in each specialized field in a diverse yet unified approach.