A Theoretical Framework of COTS Components Space Application Based on “Risk Information Entropy”

Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components have been widely used in the aerospace at home and abroad, but there is no systematic theory of quantitative evaluation of the risk. Therefore, based on Shannon's information entropy, the risk information entropy is proposed to describe the risk uncertainty of COTS components in space application. And a theoretical framework of COTS components space application is established, which includes calculation and decrease of the entropy. According to known whether the failure mode and failure frequency ratio, different risk information entropy models of components are established. And then, a risk information entropy model of the system is established, which can quantify the risk of COTS components in space application. Finally, a simple example is given to demonstrate how to use the model for calculation.