A glossary of basic terms and definitions useful for working in reliability, maintainability, and sustainability (RMS).
The terms used in most engineering technologies tend to be physical characteristics such as speed, rate of turn, and fuel consumption. While they may require very careful definition and control of the way in which they are measured, the terms themselves are not subject to different interpretations. Reliability, maintainability, and sustainability (RMS), however, use terms that are defined in a variety of ways with multiple interpretations.
The variety of definitions given to a single term creates problems when trying to compare the performance of one system to another. To eliminate the confusion, a literature search that listed current and past RMS terms and definitions was conducted. The literature search included input from the U.S. military, UK military, NATO, SAE, IEEE, NASA, ISO, university research, and other publications. The object was to determine the common definition of reliability terms from a variety of sources. It is accepted that some of the definitions may be unique because of the nature of the mission, but it is the strong conviction of the government and industry practitioners who make up the SAE Reliability Committee under the G-11 Division that there should be some fundamental definitions used for all hardware systems.
Accordingly, in October of 2003, there were discussions to revise the current AIR4896 that was published in 1995. It is understood by individuals who participated in this project that future editions will update terminology as developments are made within the RMS community. Due to the complexity and nature of software reliability, we have specifically excluded “software reliability” terms from this edition. Future updates of this document will continue to reflect the converging of defense and commercial technology and standards.
Rationale
This SAE Recommended Practice is intended to provide comprehensive reference and background information pertaining to vocabulary of reliability, maintainability, and sustainability for use by the industry.
The Mission of the Reliability Committee is to develop ground vehicle standards and guidelines in the area of component and system reliability. The committee provides an environment for government, industry and academia to have technical discussions and work out challenges in the field of reliability. Our objectives are to create, collect and distribute the wealth of knowledge of Reliability between defense, military and commercial OEMs as well as Tier 1, 2 and 3 Suppliers, which includes, but not limited to various reference materials, industry standards, handbooks and SAE Publications. Major focus of the Committee work is on Ground Combat, Tactical, Commercial, Manned and Unmanned, tracked and wheeled vehicles. The Committee studies Vehicle Reliability and related topics, such as Life Cycle Cost, vehicle development, testing and operation, etc. Committee shall study, adapt, and provide feedback on other standards produced by SAE, IEEE, NASA, etc. for use and practical application by reliability professionals in Military and Commercial OEMs and suppliers.
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Reliability, Maintainability, and Sustainability Terms and Definitions
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