Study program / study programs: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Type and level of studies: Undergraduate applied studies

Subject: INFORMATION SYSTEM RELIABILITY

Status: Elective

ECTS credits: 6

Course objective

Acquiring fundamental theoretical knowledge in the theory of reliability, availability and effectiveness of information-communication systems and their elements: hardware (computers, computer networks), software and man. Becoming acquainted with the main factors that affect the reliability throughout the phases of the life cycle of a system. Learning the basic indicators of the reliability of a system and its elements and how to calculate them. Learning the methods of calculating the reliability of a system regarding independent failure, and becoming acquainted with the methods of ensuring the reliability in individual phases of the life cycle, as well as the basic concepts concerning reliability-based maintenance and the relationship between reliability costs and maintenance costs.

Course outcome

The students will be able to explain and calculate the time of operation and time of failure, the coefficient of the effect of the conditions of exploitation, mean time to failure (MTTF), mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair (MTTR), system availability indicators. The students will learn about the differences in the reliability of hardware, software and human, the factors that affect reliability, the causes of software errors, the factors determining the number of errors in software, the AGREE metodu, reliability calculation, the difference between the calculations of repairable and irreparable systems, the calculation of the reliability of serial, parallel and combined configuration of elements, reliability calculation for the “r of n” model, models regarding the readiness with specific arrangements of elements, types of redundancy, the prerequisites of fault-tolerant computing, high availability protocols, determining reliability based on conditional probability formula, the measures for increasing the reliability in the design, production and exploitation phase, the connection between a product’s reliability and its price, maintenance suitability function, the types of reliability assessment, the connection between reliability and quality.

Course content

Theoretical classes

  • The  basic concepts of reliability, effectiveness and availability, the classification of system and element failures, and basic effectiveness indicators
  • The factors affecting the reliability of a system during design, production and exploitation
  • The basic classifications in reliability theory
  • Reliability indicators of repairable and irreparable elements and systems
  • Software reliability
  • Human reliability
  • Determining the reliability indicators based on data retrieved through monitoring the behavior of the elements and the system during use or testing
  • System reliability: serial, parallel and combined configuration, “r of n” model, systems with elements in readiness, the reliability of system with specific connections between elements
  • The effect of reservation on a system’s reliability
  • Reliability allocation
  • The methods of increasing reliability in the main phases of a product’s life cycle
  • The connection between the costs of a product’s life cycle and reliability and the optimization of reliability from the standpoint of costs
  • Plans and types of reliability assessment and quality control
  • The connection between reliability and maintenance costs

Practical classes/Auditory exercises:

  • Calculating the main indicators of reliability and effectiveness
  • Calculating the reliability of elements
  • Calculating the reliability of a system, i.e. the basic reservation configurations