Design Validation and Reliability Assurance of Electronic Systems Using the Next Generation RGT Models

Arrhenius Accelerated Growth Model (AAGT) is the next generation accelerated testing models used for design validation and reliability assurance of electronics systems. These models are used in design and manufacturing phases towards reliability enhancement of the system respectively. AAGT Models uses Highly Accelerated Stresses for screening of the components towards uncovering Compared to traditional qualification test methods, design flaws, latent defects, component selection problems, and manufacturing flaws can be detected fast. The procedure includes thermal dwells and quick temperature changes while subjecting the test unit to increasing degrees of stress. Dynamic stresses (Pseudo-Random Vibration covering all 6DOF systems) and a combination of thermal and dynamic PSD stresses towards quickly precipitating inherent/hidden defects quickly. These Accelerated models used to qualify modern active array radar modules like Transmit Receive Modules (TRMs) which will be in large numbers and It will be difficult and time-consuming to filter these modules individually using the traditional way. To increase the quality and dependability of electronic devices, much accelerated life tests have been extensively adopted. However, extremely accelerated life tests may only be used as a qualitative approach to assess a product's dependability; they cannot be used to quantify a product's reliability, such as MTBF/MTTF. Consequently, in order to efficiently assess the level of product reliability while improving product reliability in a timely manner. HALT/HASS uses Arrhenius Accelerated Growth Model that is an effective technique used for screening of the module with in short period. This paper discuss in detail with a case study on active array modules deliberating about the test methodology, challenges faced during Using Arrhenius accelerated test models, rapid testing and assessment of these Four channel TRMs used for airborne Fire Control Radar for combat operations

Situation awareness measurement: A review of applicability for C4i environments

The construct of situation awareness (SA) has become a core theme within the human factors (HF) research community. Consequently, there have been numerous attempts to develop reliable and valid measures of SA but there is a lack of techniques developed specifically for the assessment of SA in command, control, communication, computers and intelligence (C4i) environments. During the design, development and evaluation of novel systems, technology and procedures, valid and reliable situation awareness measurement techniques are required for the assessment of individual and team SA, in order to determine the improvements (or in some cases decrements) resulting from proposed design and technological interventions. The paper presents a review of existing situation awareness measurement techniques for their suitability for use in the assessment of SA in C4i environments. Seventeen SA measures were evaluated against a set of HF methods criteria. It was concluded that current SA measurement techniques are inadequate by themselves for use in the assessment of SA in C4i environments, and a multiple-measure approach utilising different approaches is recommended

Optimal discrete stopping times for reliability growth tests

Often, the duration of a reliability growth development test is specified in advance and the decision to terminate or continue testing is conducted at discrete time intervals. These features are normally not captured by reliability growth models. This paper adapts a standard reliability growth model to determine the optimal time for which to plan to terminate testing. The underlying stochastic process is developed from an Order Statistic argument with Bayesian inference used to estimate the number of faults within the design and classical inference procedures used to assess the rate of fault detection. Inference procedures within this framework are explored where it is shown the Maximum Likelihood Estimators possess a small bias and converges to the Minimum Variance Unbiased Estimator after few tests for designs with moderate number of faults. It is shown that the Likelihood function can be bimodal when there is conflict between the observed rate of fault detection and the prior distribution describing the number of faults in the design. An illustrative example is provided

Cost-benefit modelling for reliability growth

Decisions during the reliability growth development process of engineering equipment involve trade-offs between cost and risk. However slight, there exists a chance an item of equipment will not function as planned during its specified life. Consequently the producer can incur a financial penalty. To date, reliability growth research has focussed on the development of models to estimate the rate of failure from test data. Such models are used to support decisions about the effectiveness of options to improve reliability. The extension of reliability growth models to incorporate financial costs associated with 'unreliability' is much neglected. In this paper, we extend a Bayesian reliability growth model to include cost analysis. The rationale of the stochastic process underpinning the growth model and the cost structures are described. The ways in which this model can be used to support cost-benefit analysis during product development are discussed and illustrated through a simple case

Integrating automated support for a software management cycle into the TAME system

Software managers are interested in the quantitative management of software quality, cost and progress. An integrated software management methodology, which can be applied throughout the software life cycle for any number purposes, is required. The TAME (Tailoring A Measurement Environment) methodology is based on the improvement paradigm and the goal/question/metric (GQM) paradigm. This methodology helps generate a software engineering process and measurement environment based on the project characteristics. The SQMAR (software quality measurement and assurance technology) is a software quality metric system and methodology applied to the development processes. It is based on the feed forward control principle. Quality target setting is carried out before the plan-do-check-action activities are performed. These methodologies are integrated to realize goal oriented measurement, process control and visual management. A metric setting procedure based on the GQM paradigm, a management system called the software management cycle (SMC), and its application to a case study based on NASA/SEL data are discussed. The expected effects of SMC are quality improvement, managerial cost reduction, accumulation and reuse of experience, and a highly visual management reporting system

Toward a Strategic Human Resource Management Model of High Reliability Organization Performance

In this article, we extend strategic human resource management (SHRM) thinking to theory and research on high reliability organizations (HROs) using a behavioral approach. After considering the viability of reliability as an organizational performance indicator, we identify a set of eight reliability-oriented employee behaviors (ROEBs) likely to foster organizational reliability and suggest that they are especially valuable to reliability seeking organizations that operate under “trying conditions”. We then develop a reliability-enhancing human resource strategy (REHRS) likely to facilitate the manifestation of these ROEBs. We conclude that the behavioral approach offers SHRM scholars an opportunity to explain how people contribute to specific organizational goals in specific contexts and, in turn, to identify human resource strategies that extend the general high performance human resource strategy (HPHRS) in new and important ways

COBRA framework to evaluate e-government services: A citizen-centric perspective

E-government services involve many stakeholders who have different objectives that can have an impact on success. Among these stakeholders, citizens are the primary stakeholders of government activities. Accordingly, their satisfaction plays an important role in e-government success. Although several models have been proposed to assess the success of e-government services through measuring users' satisfaction levels, they fail to provide a comprehensive evaluation model. This study provides an insight and critical analysis of the extant literature to identify the most critical factors and their manifested variables for user satisfaction in the provision of e-government services. The various manifested variables are then grouped into a new quantitative analysis framework consisting of four main constructs: cost; benefit; risk and opportunity (COBRA) by analogy to the well-known SWOT qualitative analysis framework. The COBRA measurement scale is developed, tested, refined and validated on a sample group of e-government service users in Turkey. A structured equation model is used to establish relationships among the identified constructs, associated variables and users' satisfaction. The results confirm that COBRA framework is a useful approach for evaluating the success of e-government services from citizens' perspective and it can be generalised to other perspectives and measurement contexts. Crown Copyright © 2014.PIAP-GA-2008-230658) from the European Union Framework Program and another grant (NPRP 09-1023-5-158) from the Qatar National Research Fund (amember of Qatar Foundation

Measuring customer satisfaction and understanding customer effort in a B2B context

Our members asked us to investigate a number of aspects of Customer Satisfaction measurement in a Business-to-Business (B2B) context. Specific questions were:- What are the different metrics of customer satisfaction that are measured in a BTB relationship? Which are used the most? Which are the most effective? Do they vary by type of company? Are there new ways to measure customer satisfaction that more closely reflects their customer experience? What does customer effort mean in a B2B relationship? How do we identify where we are not easy to do business with? What do we have to do differently? Our approach to the subject was to review existing literature and previous research and then to conduct an exploratory qualitative review into the subject by conducting interviews with a range of B2B companies and a sample of their customers. The purpose behind the interviews was to try to answer the above questions and to identify if there were opportunities for more in-depth research in the future. The project demonstrates that the B2B companies compile and use a customer satisfaction rating for their business-to-business relationships but that there is little commonality between companies in both the full range of questions asked and the scales used for the individual questions. All of the companies use a mixture of global and dimensional measures (see literature review in section 2). There is some scope for manipulation of the customer satisfaction process in most companies so the results have to be treated with a degree of caution. However, the companies believe that they are getting good positive and negative feedback from the process so they see significant value from it. Where the customer satisfaction rating falls below an acceptable level, which differs by company, responses are shared with the customer as part of the regular relationship meeting and a monitored action plan is the normal result. In addition, in most cases, common issues are identified at company level and considered for improvement programs. The questions about customer effort showed that companies in general consider themselves more difficult to do business with than their customers do. Analysis of both company and customer views of what was ‘easy’ and what was ‘difficult’ about the relationship identified a number of interactions that could potentially be the subject of process improvement initiatives. It appears from this research that the inclusion of customer effort questions would benefit the customer satisfaction process for B2B companies and a number of best practise approaches were identified from this and previous research