Minimum Mission Cost Cold-Standby Sequencing in Non-Repairable Multi-Phase Systems

This paper considers the optimal cold standby element sequencing problem (SESP) for 1-out-of-n: G heterogeneous non-repairable cold-standby systems that accomplish multi-phase missions. Given a fixed set of element choices, the objective of the optimal system design is to select the initiation sequence of the system elements so as to minimize the expected mission cost while providing a desired level of system reliability. It is assumed that during different mission phases the elements are exposed to different stresses, which affects their time-to-failure distributions. The startup and exploitation costs of system elements are also phase dependent. We suggest an algorithm for evaluating the mission reliability and expected mission cost based on a discrete approximation of time-to-failure distributions of the system elements. A genetic algorithm is used as an optimization tool for solving the formulated SESP for multi-phase cold-standby systems. Examples are given to illustrate the considered problem and the proposed solution methodology.