Use of SysML for Quantitative System Reliability and Availability Analysis

In projects using Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and SysML, it is now possible to easily perform reliability/availability modeling and prediction starting at the conceptual design phase and continuing throughout the development using the SysML reliability library and SysML profile described here. The innovation is the way in which the profile extends standard SysML model elements to reliability and availability analysis. Values for failure rates, restoration rates, recovery probabilities, and other parameters are entered by SysML designers at the time they are creating the system and stored in SysML. Equations for reliability block configurations (series, parallel, active/standby and k out of n) have been implemented and included in the version of the library presented here. An example demonstrated the application of the library model elements. Also discussed were model verification and how the library can be extended.