Reliability allocation of Fibre Channel network in avionics system

Abstract

To satisfy the high speed transmission requirement, Fibre Channel (FC) network has been applied in the avionics system. Due to the complex structure of FC networks, traditional reliability allocation methods cannot be used directly. Advisory Group on the Reliability of Electronic Equipment (AGREE) allocation method, an objective method which considers the importance and complexity of the system, can only be applied to series-parallel systems. Aiming at allocating system reliability goal to network systems with complex structure, we have proposed two improved AGREE allocation methods based on heuristic algorithm using analytic algorithm and Monte Carlo simulation to compute network reliability, respectively. In this paper, we compare these three methods, and give application examples using a simple series-parallel system, which shows advantages of our proposed methods. Our proposed reliability allocation methods based on heuristic algorithm are applied for the FC network in avionics system. The allocation method using Monte Carlo simulation is more flexible to compute the reliability of complex networks, which is more practical in engineering.