Bounding availability of repairable systems

Abstract

Markov models are widely used for the analysis of availability of computer/communication systems. Realistic models often involve state-space cardinalities that are so large that it is impractical to generate the transition-rate matrix let alone solve for availability measures. An approximation technique is presented for determining steady-state availability. Of particular interest is that the method also provides bounds on the error. Examples are given to illustrate the method.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>