OPTIMAL REDUNDANCY ALLOCATION FOR INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Abstract: Reliability allocation requires defining reliability objectives for individual subsystems in order to meet the ultimate goal of reliability. Individual reliability objectives set for software development must lead to an adequate ratio of time-length, level of difficulty and risks, as well as decrease development process total cost. Thus, redundancy ensures meeting the reliability request by introducing a sufficient quantity of spare equipment. But in the same time, this solution leads to an increase in weight, size and cost. The aim of this paper is the investigation of reliability allocation to specific sets of software applications (AST) under the circumstances of minimizing development and implementation costs by using the Rome Research Laboratory methodology and by complying with the conditions of costs minimization triggered by the introduction of redundancies [GHITA 00]. The paper analyses the ways in which the software reliability allocation gradual methodology can be extended. It also analyses the issue of optimal system design in terms of reliability allocation by using instruments of mathematical programming and approaches the variation of reliability and system cost by taking into account the redundancy introduced in the system. This paper is also going to provide an example of calculus which uses a representative software system and illustrates the methodology of optimal allocation of specific sets of software applications reliability