Title: ASSESSMENT OF THE FIDES RELIABILITY PREDICTION METHODOLOGY
Author: Aishwarya Prashant Gaonkar
Advisory Committee:
Professor Michael G. Pecht
Professor Peter Sandborn
Professor Patrick McCluskey
Professor Diganta Das
Date/Time: Wednesday, April 21 9:00-11:00AM
Abstract: The FIDES Guide is a reliability prediction handbook published by a group of European defense and aerospace manufacturers under the supervision of the French Ministry of Defense. FIDES assumes the
hazard rates of electronic systems follow a bathtub curve, and only predicts reliability for the useful life
period using a constant failure rate metric. The inapplicability of the bathtub model to predict the hazard
rate of electronic components, products, and systems is examined. The appropriateness of FIDES model
factors as inputs to a reliability prediction is assessed. It is shown that FIDES uses inappropriate
reliability prediction metric and combines reliability prediction with supply chain risk assessment. The
claim of FIDES being based on the physics-of-failure is assessed and shown to be false. FIDES guide is
evaluated using the questionnaire provided by the IEEE Standard 1413 and it is shown that FIDES lacks
the key attributes that make a reliability prediction useful and accurate.