DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE REDUNDANCY ALLOCATION FRAMEWORKS TO BOOST SYSTEM RELIABILITY

Abstract

NASA defines redundancy as the use of multiple independent means to achieve a task, a critical aspect of ensuring mission success and system reliability. This concept was exemplified during NASA's Apollo 10 mission, where the availability of redundant systems allowed the mission to continue when faced with technical challenges. However, in the design of complex systems, achieving high levels of redundancy to meet stringent reliability goals can introduce challenges related to cost, weight, and size constraints. Balancing these trade-offs can be a complex task, as optimization models for redundancy allocation may be challenging to solve, as noted by Chern in 1992. Nevertheless, Chern also identified specific redundancy allocation models that can be solved efficiently within polynomial time. This research explores the optimization of redundancy allocation in complex systems, aiming to strike a balance between reliability goals and resource constraints. By leveraging the models identified by Chern, this study offers insights into effective redundancy allocation strategies to enhance system reliability while considering practical limitations.