Mission abort policy optimization for series systems with overlapping primary and rescue subsystems operating in a random environment

Abstract

This work considers a system consisting of two overlapping subsets of components. Availability of all components composing the subsets is required for performing the primary mission (PM) and the rescue procedure (RP) respectively. The system is exposed to random shocks during its operation. The components’ resistance to shocks deteriorates with the number of experienced shocks. Failure of any component from the PM subset results in the mission failure. To enhance the system's survivability, the PM can be aborted upon occurrence of the nth shock without waiting for the PM failure. In the case of PM failure or abortion, the RP is activated. If, at least one component from the RP subset does not survive all shocks occurring until completion of the RP, the system is lost. The choice of n should balance the mission success probability and the system survival probability. An algorithm for obtaining these metrics as functions of n is suggested and an example of analyzing the tradeoff between them is given. An example of obtaining the optimal mission abort policies is provided.