Survivability Index for Ccns - a Measure of Fuzzy Reliability
Journal
Reliability Engineering & System Safety
Journal Volume
33
Journal Issue
1
Pages
71-99
Date Issued
1991
Author(s)
Abstract
Various reliability measures have been proposed for computer communication networks (CCNs). In this paper, we present a classification scheme for these measures. However, performance should be included in a reliability measure because of the attribute of performance degradation for CCNs. Also included is the network dynamics because of the errors arising from ignorance of the dynamics. The concept of fuzzy reliability is an appealing cadidate for combining performance degradation and network dynamics. In this paper, we use deterministic survivability indices to define fuzzy reliability and thus the concept of fuzzy survivability is produced. Merwin and Mirhakak's survivability index is just a stationary measure for fuzzy survivability. In fact, there is an underlying inherent relationship between Merwin and Mirhakak's survivability index and Bynes and Angell's measure of effectiveness. Bynes and Angell's dependency chart and the concept of a program tree proposed in this paper can be used to calculate effectively fuzzy survivability. The fuzzy survivability behavior is very different from that of the network component reliabilities. Maintenance is shown to have significant effects on the fuzzy survivability. Numerical examples are presented throughout this paper. © 1991.
Type
journal article