Preventive replacement policies with multiple missions and maintenance triggering approaches

Abstract

For the mission-oriented systems, it is not feasible to do any preventive maintenance when the mission is executing. However, the replacement time obtained by traditional replacement policies might be planned during the mission duration. The planned number of missions derived by traditional methods may overestimate the actual value. It would fail to complete the missions or increase the risk of system failure during the mission durations. And the major accident and unimaginable economic losses might occur. Therefore, an appropriate preventive maintenance policy with mission durations should be proposed to guarantee the required reliability and maintainability of the systems. To maintain the large and complex systems, we firstly extend the periodic replacement with minimal repair for systems which are designed to perform multiple missions. Then, two maintenance triggering approaches, i.e., the replacement first and replacement last are discussed, respectively. The optimum replacement time and number of missions are presented analytically and numerically. Finally, the comparison of above replacement policies in maintaining the reconnaissance system of unmanned aerial vehicle is given based on assumed data. The suggested models in this paper can provide better guidance The suggested models in this paper can provide better guidance for maintaining the systems which should implement the periodic replacement policies with minimal repair.