RACER — A proposed rating system for electronic components and devices

Choice of an electronic component or electron device for a particular application is more likely than not to be based on a personal estimate of one or two obvious attributes, such as first cost, assumed reliability or simply availability. The author proposes a set of five basic criteria, with quantitative evaluation, to comprehend all attributes of any candidate device or component. These criteria are stated and defined as reliability, availability, compatibility, economy and reproducibility, the initial letters of which are combined to form the acronym, “RACER.” A method of assigning numerical values to each criterion of the RACER system is proposed so that a summary evaluation figure of merit may be derived for unbiased engineering and managerial comparison and decision among individual devices and components for particular applications. A practical example is given.