Ch10 Specialty Engineering Activities Flashcards
What is “affordability”?
The balance of system performance, cost and schedule constraints over the system life while satisfying mission needs in concert with strategic investment and organizational needs.
Which factors should be considered when analysing the affordability trade space?
1) cost versus benefits of different design solutions;
2) cost versus benefits of different support strategies;
3) methods and rationale used to develop these comparisons;
4) ability to identify and obtain data required to analyse changes.
What is the difference between “Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA)” and “Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)”?
CEA measures the results in terms of performance, while CBA uses monetary measures of outcomes.
What is “supportability analysis”?
An iterative analytical process by which the logistics support requirements for a system are identified and evaluated. It uses quantitative methods and constitutes a design analysis process which is part of the overall SE effort.
What is cost-effective analysis?
A form of business analysis that conpares the relative costs and performance characteristics of two or more courses of action.
Which costs are usually included in LCC analysis?
Concept costs;
Development costs;
Production costs;
Utilization and support costs;
Retirement costs.
List common methods/techniques for conducting LCC analysis.
Expert judgment;
Analogy;
Parkinson technique;
Price to win;
Top focus;
Bottoms up;
Algorithmic (parametric);
DTC;
Delphi techniques;
Taxonomy method.
What is Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)?
The engineering discipline concerned with the behavior of a system in an electromagnetic environment.
What is Logistics engineering?
The engineering discipline concerned with the identification, acquisition, procurement, and provisioning of all support resources required to sustain operation and maintenance of a system.
What is the scope of Logistics engineering?
1) to determine logistics support requirements
2) to design the system for supportability
3) to acquire or procure the support
4) to provide cost-effective logistics support for a system during the utilization and support stages.
How is reliability defined?
The probability that an item will perform a required function without failure under stated conditions for a stated period of time.
Which are the methods of reliability engineering?
1) to apply engineering knowledge and specialist techniques to prevent or to reduce the likelihood or frequency of failures
2) to identify and correct the causes of failures that do occur, despite the efforts to prevent them
3) to determine ways of coping with failures that do occur, if their causes have not been corrected
4) to apply methods for estimating the likely reliability of new designs and for analyzing reliability data.
What are the risks of seeing reliability only in probabilistic terms?
To avoid focusing on preventing failure and achieve reliability and using incorrect practices (e.g. reliability prediction and reliability demonstration of electronic systems), and to play the numbers game.
In which activity groups can reliability engineering be divided?
1) engineering analysis and tests
2) failures analysis
How is availability defined?
The probability that a system, when used under stated conditions, will operate satisfactorily at any point in time as required.
