Signature Based Analysis of <i>m</I>-consecutive-<i>k< <i>f</I> Systems With Exchangeable Components

Abstract

In this article, we study reliability properties of m-consecutive-k-out-of-n: F systems with exchangeable components. We deduce exact formulae and recurrence relations for the signature of the system. Closed form expressions for the survival function and the lifetime distribution as a mixture of the distribution of order statistics are established as well. These representations facilitate the computation of several reliability characteristics of the system for a given exchangeable joint distribution or survival function. Finally, we provide signature-based stochastic ordering results for the system's lifetime and investigate the IFR preservation property under the formulation of m-consecutive-k-out-of-n: F systems. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 58: 344-354, 2011