Prognostics implementation methods for electronics

Prognostics is a method that enables monitoring the state of reliability of a product in real time, and therefore can be used to provide advance warning of a failure, to minimize unscheduled maintenance, to provide condition-based maintenance, and to help in product design and development. This paper identifies six levels of prognostics implementation for electronics, from on-chip packaging to complete systems of systems. An approach is then presented for selecting the implementation levels to cost-effectively optimize coverage. The process of selecting the prognostic approach and its implementation at various levels in electronics is enabled using failure modes, mechanisms, and effects analysis.