NSF0832594

CSR-EHCS(EHS), SM: Efficient Dynamic Combinatorial Models (EDCM) for Reliability Analysis of Complex Dynamic Systems

In the area of system reliability analysis, dynamic and dependent behavior such as functional dependence, cascading failures, and state dependence has been recognized as a significant contribution to problems in overall system reliability. However, with the incorporation of the dynamic and dependent behavior, resulting dynamic system reliability models cannot be efficiently and accurately solved by existing state space based methods such as Markov methods. This is due to two key limitations: the state-space explosion problem, and the inability to handle arbitrary failure distributions. This project explores efficient combinatorial models, formal methods, and transform methods to address these two limitations, providing a viable solution to the accurate reliability analysis of practical large-scale computer-based systems with complex dynamic behavior. The research has four major components: 1) reliability modeling and evaluation of dynamic and dependent behavior, 2) verification and performance analysis of the proposed reliability models and evaluation methods, 3) case studies/industrial applications, and 4) GUI-based reliability software tool development. The new reliability models and evaluation methods developed through this project are fundamental contributions to the body of knowledge on the computer system reliability. This project has broader impact through its contributions to computer system reliability research, graduate and undergraduate education, and the reliable design of complex and dynamic industrial systems. A project website provides publicly available access to the publications generated from the project, software tools and tools-related materials.

  • Members

    • Dr. Liudong Xing (PI)
    • Dr. Chaonan Wang, Ph.D. (2014), currently working as research associate at UMass Dartmouth
    • Dr. Prashanthi Boddu, Ph.D. (2012), currently working at Global Prior Art Inc., MA
    • Dr. Ola Tannous, Ph.D. (2012), currently working at Electro Motive Diesels, Chicago, IL
    • Monika Shrestha, M.S. (2011), currently working at Recombinant Data Corporation, MA
    • Dr. Akhilesh Shrestha, Ph.D. (2009), currently working at ARCON Corporation, MA
    • Brock Morrissette, M.S. (2009), currently working at Lockheed Martin MS2, MA
    • Dileep Varma Bairraju, M.S. (2009), currently working at AT&T, NJ
    • Toufic Tannous (B.S. Student)

  • Major Collaborators

    • Dr. Leila Meshkat, Senior Engineer of Systems and Software Engineering Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
    • Dr. Wendai Wang, Senior Manager of Reliability and Senior Member of Technical Staff, Applied Materials
    • Dr. Gregory Levitin, Senior Expert, Reliability & Equipment Department, R&D Division, The Israel Electric Corporation Ltd., Israel.
    • Dr. Suprasad V. Amari, Technical Fellow, Parametric Technology Corporation.

  • Related Publications

    • Journal Papers (Published/Accepted)
      • A. Shrestha* and L. Xing, “A Logarithmic Binary Decision Diagrams-Based Method for Multistate Systems Analysis,” IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Vol. 57, No. 4, pp. 595-606, December 2008 (link).
      • A. Shrestha* and L. Xing, “Improved Modular Reliability Analyses of Hybrid Phased Mission Systems,” Journal of Risk and Reliability, Vol. 222, No. 4, 2008, pp. 507-520
      • L. Xing, J. B. Dugan, and B. A. Morrissette*, “Efficient Reliability Analysis of Systems with Functional Dependence Loops,” Maintenance and Reliability, pp. 65-69, 3(43), July 2009.
      • A. Shrestha*, L. Xing, and Y. Dai, “Decision Diagram-Based Methods, and Complexity Analysis for Multistate Systems,” IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Vol. 59, No. 1, pp. 145-161, March 2010 (link).
      • G. Levitin and L. Xing, “Reliability and Performance of Multi-state Systems with Propagated Failures Having Selective Effect,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 95, No. 6, pp. 655-661, June 2010.
      • A. Shrestha*, L. Xing, and D. W. Coit, “An Efficient Multi-State Multi-Valued Decision Diagram-Based Approach for Multi-State System Sensitivity Analysis,” IEEE Trans. on Reliability , Vol. 59, No. 3, pp. 581-592, September 2010.
      • S. V. Amari, L. Xing, A. Shrestha*, J. Akers, and K. S. Trivedi, “Performability Analysis of Multi-State Computing Systems Using Multi-Valued Decision Diagrams,” IEEE Trans. on Computers, Vol. 59, No. 10, pp. 1419-1433, October 2010.
      • L. Xing and G. Levitin, “Combinatorial Analysis of Systems with Competing Failures Subject to Failure Isolation and Propagation Effects,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 95, No. 11, pp. 1210-1215, November 2010.
      • A. Shrestha*, L. Xing, and Y.S. Dai, “Reliability Analysis of Multi-State Phased-Mission Systems with Unordered and Ordered States,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans, Vol. 41, No. 4, pp. 625-636, July 2011.
      • L. Xing, A. Shrestha*, and Y.S. Dai, “Exact Combinatorial Reliability Analysis of Dynamic Systems with Sequence-Dependent Failures,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 96, No. 10, pp. 1375-1385, October 2011.
      • Prashanthi Boddu* and L. Xing, “Optimal Design of Heterogeneous Series-Parallel Systems with Common-Cause Failures,” International Journal of Performability Engineering, special Issue on Performance and Dependability Modeling of Dynamic Systems, Vol. 7, No. 5, pp. 455-466, September 2011.
      • Suprasad V. Amari and L. Xing, “Reliability Analysis of k-out-of-n Systems with Phased-Mission Requirements,” International Journal of Performability Engineering, Vol. 7, No. 6, pp. 595-600, November 2011.
      • L. Xing and Gregory Levitin, “Combinatorial Algorithm for Reliability Analysis of Multi-State Systems with Propagated Failures and Failure Isolation Effect,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans , Vol. 41, No. 6, pp. 1156-1165, November 2011.
      • Gregory Levitin, L. Xing, Hanoch Ben-Haim, and Yuanshun Dai, “Multi-state Systems with Selective Propagated Failures and Imperfect Individual and Group Protections,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 96, No. 12, pp. 1657-1666, December 2011.
      • L. Xing, Ola Tannous*, and Joanne Bechta Dugan, “Reliability Analysis of Non-Repairable Cold-Standby Systems Using Sequential Binary Decision Diagrams,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans , Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 715-726, May 2012.
      • L. Xing, Chaonan Wang*, Gregory Levitin, “Competing Failure Analysis in Non-repairable Binary Systems Subject to Functional Dependence,” Proc IMechE, Part O: Journal of Risk and Reliability, Vol. 226, No. 4, pp. 406-416, August 2012
      • L. Xing, Suprasad V. Amari, and Chaonan Wang*, “Reliability of k-out-of-n Systems with Phased-Mission Requirements and Imperfect Fault Coverage,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 103, pp. 45-50, July 2012.
      • Gregory Levitin, L. Xing, and Suprasad V. Amari, “Recursive Algorithm for Reliability Evaluation of Non-repairable Phased Mission Systems with Binary Elements,” IEEE Transactions on Reliability, Vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 533-542, June 2012.
      • Chaonan Wang*, L. Xing, and Gregory Levitin, “Propagated Failure Analysis for Non-Repairable Systems Considering both Global and Selective Effects”, Reliability engineering and System Safety, Vol. 99, pp. 96-104, March 2012.
      • Chaonan Wang*, L. Xing, and Suprasad V. Amari, “A Fast Approximation Method for Reliability Analysis of Cold-Standby Systems,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 106, pp. 119–126, October 2012.
      • Chaonan Wang*, L. Xing, and Gregory Levitin, “Competing Failure Analysis in Phased-Mission Systems with Functional Dependence in One of Phases,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 108, pp. 90-99, December 2012.
      • R. Peng, Q. Zhai, L. Xing, and J. Yang, “Reliability of 1-out-of-(n+1) Warm Standby Systems Subject to Fault Level Coverage,” International Journal of Performability Engineering , Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 117-120, January 2013.
      • C. Wang*, L. Xing, and G. Levitin, “Reliability Analysis of Multi-Trigger Binary Systems Subject to Competing Failures,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Vol. 111, pp. 9–17, March 2013.
      • Gregory Levitin, L. Xing, Suprasad V. Amari, and Yuanshun Dai, “Reliability of Non-repairable Phased-Mission Systems with Common-Cause Failures,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans (accepted)
      • L. Xing, Gregory Levitin, Chaonan Wang*, and Yuanshun Dai “Reliability of Systems Subject to Failures with Dependent Propagation Effect,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans (in Press, doi: 10.1109/TSMCA.2012.2197199).
      • Gregory Levitin, Suprasad V. Amari, and L. Xing, “Algorithm for Reliability Evaluation of Non-repairable Phased-Mission Systems Consisting of Gradually Deteriorating Multi-state Elements,” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems and Humans, (in Press, doi: 10.1109/TSMCA.2012.2187186)
      • P. Boddu* and L. Xing, “Reliability Evaluation and Optimization of Series-Parallel Systems with k-out-of-n: G Subsystems and Mixed Redundancy Types,” Proc IMechE,, Part O, Journal of Risk and Reliability (accepted)
    • Conference Papers (Published/Accepted)
      • A. Shrestha*#, L. Xing, and Y. Dai, “Reliability Analysis of Multi-State Phased-Mission Systems,” Proc. of The 55th Annual Reliability & Maintainability Symposium, Fort Worth, TX, January 2009.
      • L. Xing#, J. B. Dugan, and B. A. Morrissette*, “An Efficient Approach to Handling Functional Dependence Loops,” Proc. Of The 8th International Conference on Reliability, Maintainability and Safety, pp. 37-40, Chengdu, China, July 2009.
      • A. Shrestha*, L. Xing#, and D. W. Coit, “Multistate Component Importance Analysis using Multistate Multivalued Decision Diagrams,” Proc. Of The 8th International Conference on Reliability, Maintainability and Safety, pp. 99-103, Chengdu, China, July 2009.
      • L. Xing, B. A. Morrissette*#, and J. B. Dugan, “Efficient Analysis of Imperfect Coverage Systems with Functional Dependence,” Proc. of The 56th Annual Reliability & Maintainability Symposium, San Jose, CA, USA, January 25-28, 2010.
      • A. Shrestha*, L. Xing, and S. Amari#, “Reliability, Sensitivity Analysis of Imperfect Coverage Multi-State Systems,” Proc. of The 56th Annual Reliability & Maintainability Symposium, San Jose, CA, USA, January 25-28, 2010.
      • L. Xing, G. Levitin, P. Boddu*#, and T. Song, “Reliability Analysis of Systems with Competing Propagated Failures and Failure Isolation Effect,” Proc. of The 16th ISSAT International Conference on Reliability and Quality in Design, Washington D.C., August 2010, pp. 343-347.
      • M. Shrestha*#, L. Xing, and H. Xu, “Complete Sequence Generation Algorithm for Reliability Analysis of Dynamic Systems with Sequence-Dependent Failures,” Proc. of The 16th ISSAT International Conference on Reliability and Quality in Design, Washington D.C., August 2010, pp. 382-386.
      • O. Tannous*#, L. Xing, and J. B. Dugan, “Reliability Analysis of Warm Standby Systems using Sequential BDD,” Proc. of The 57th Annual Reliability & Maintainability Symposium, FL, USA, January 2011.
      • L. Xing# and G. Levitin, “Reliability of Multi-State Systems subject to Competing Failures,” Proc. of The 57th Annual Reliability & Maintainability Symposium, FL, USA, January 2011.
      • Prashanthi Boddu*, L. Xing# and Ola Tannous*, “Optimal Design of Heterogeneous Series-Parallel Systems with Mixed Redundancy Types,” Proc. of The Seventh International Conference on Mathematical Methods in Reliability, Beijing, China, June 2011, pp. 99-105.
      • L. Xing#, Gregory Levitin, and Chaonan Wang*#, “Multi-state Systems with Independent Local and Propagated failures and Competing Failure Propagation and Isolation Effects”, Proc. of The Seventh International Conference on Mathematical Methods in Reliability, Invited Session on Multi-state and continuous-state system reliability, Beijing, China, June 2011, pp. 607-613.
      • O. Tannous*, L. Xing, M. Xie, and S.H, Ng, “Redundancy Allocation for Series-Parallel Warm-Standby Systems,” Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, Singapore, December 2011
      • P. Boddu*# and L. Xing, “Redundancy Allocation for k-out-of-n: G Systems with Mixed Spare Types,” Proc. of The 58th Annual Reliability & Maintainability Symposium, Reno, NV, USA, January 2012
      • O. Tannous*# and L. Xing, “Efficient Analysis of Warm Standby Systems using Central Limit Theorem,” Proc. of The 58th Annual Reliability & Maintainability Symposium, Reno, NV, USA, January 2012
      • Chaonan Wang*#, L. Xing, Gregory Levitin, “Reliability of Multi-Trigger Multi-State Systems Subject to Competing Failures,” Proc. of International Conference on Quality, Reliability, Risk, Maintenance, and Safety Engineering (QR2MSE2012), Chengdu, China, June 2012.
      • Ola Tannous*, L. Xing#, Rui Peng, and Min Xie, “Combinatorial Reliability Analysis of Warm-Standby Systems with Imperfect Fault Coverage,” The 18th ISSAT International Conference on Reliability and Quality in Design, Boston, MA, July 2012
      • Rui Peng, Ola Tannous*, L. Xing, and Min Xie#, “Reliability of Smart Grid Systems with Warm Standby Spares and Imperfect Coverage,” Proc. of The 1st International Conference on Smart Grids and Green IT Systems, Porto, Portugal, April 2012
      • C. Wang*#, L. Xing, and G. Levitin, “Reliability of Phased-Mission Systems Subject to Competing Failures,” The 60th Annual Reliability & Maintainability Symposium, January 2013 (accepted)

  • Related Graduate Students Work

    • Prashanthi Boddu, “Reliability Optimization of Complex Series-Parallel Systems with k-out-of-n: G Subsystem Redundancy,” Ph.D. Dissertation, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, September 2012.
    • Ola Tannous, “Combinatorial Reliability Evaluation and Optimization for Dynamic Standby Sparing Systems,” Ph.D. Dissertation, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, May 2012.
    • Monkia Shrestha, “Algorithm and Specification for Reliability Analysis of Systems with Dependent Failures,” M.S. Thesis, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, May 2011.
    • Akhilesh Shrestha, “Dependability Modeling and Analysis of Mission Critical Systems,” Ph.D. Dissertation, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, May 2009.
    • Dileep Varma Bairraju, “GUI Design and Implementation for Reliability Analysis of Multi-State Systems,” M.S. Project, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, May 2009.
    • Brock Morrissette, “A Combinatorial Approach to Reliability Analysis of Imperfect Coverage Systems with Functional Dependencies,” M.S. Project, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, May 2009.

  • Research Poster Presentations

    • B. A. Morrissette and L. Xing, “A Combinatorial Method for Reliability Analysis of Imperfect Coverage Systems Subject to Functional Dependence,” UMassD Sigma Xi, April 2009
    • O. Tannous and L. Xing, “Combinatorial Reliability Analysis of Warm Standby Systems,” UMassD Sigma Xi, April 2010.
    • M. Shrestha, L. Xing, and H. Xu, “Reliability Analysis of Dynamic Systems with Sequence-Dependent Failures,” UMassD Sigma Xi, April 2010.
    • Chaonan Wang and L. Xing, “A Fast Approximate Method for Reliability Analysis of Large Cold-Standby Systems,” UMassD Sigma Xi Research Exhibition, April 2011.
    • Prashanthi Boddu and L. Xing, ” Optimal Reliability Design for Series-Parallel Systems with Mixed Redundancy Types and Common-Cause Failures,” UMassD Sigma Xi Research Exhibition, April 2011.

  • Conference Tutorials

    • Liudong Xing and Suprasad V. Amari, “Decision Diagrams in System Reliability Analysis,” The 58th Annual Reliability & Maintainability Symposium, Reno, NV, USA, January 2012

  • Seminar Talks by the PI

    • “Reliability Computing for Complex Systems and Networks,” Computer Science Department, University of Massachusetts – Lowell, November 14, 2008
    • “Reliability and Sensitivity Analysis of Multi-State Systems,” Computer Science & Engineering Department, University of Connecticut, May 1, 2009
    • “Efficient Combinatorial Models for Reliability Analysis of Complex Dynamic Systems,” School of Reliability and Systems Engineering, Behang University, June 21, 2010
    • “Efficient Combinatorial Models for Reliability Analysis of Complex Dynamic Systems,” School of Management & Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, June 22, 2010
    • “Efficient Combinatorial Models for Reliability Analysis of Complex Dynamic Systems,” School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology, China, July 1, 2010
    • “System Reliability Engineering: Current Research Challenges and Future Needs,” State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing System Engineering, Xi’an Jiao Tong University, July 6, 2010
    • “Efficient Combinatorial Models for Reliability Analysis of Complex Dynamic Systems,” American Society for Quality (ASQ), Reliability Division Chinese Webinar Series, November 8, 2011

  • Reliability Analysis Software Tool

    • Information and screenshots (PDF)

Acknowledgment: This site is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0832594. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this site are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation