System Impact of Reliability

Reliability – 6:00PM, Wednesday, 11 March

System Impact of Reliability

Daniel J. Weidman, Ph.D. MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Reliability is important in today’s systems, because it can be the most difficult parameter to specify and quantify, either through analysis or testing.  Basic reliability data and models are often not provided by electronics manufacturers especially at advanced technology nodes. Reliability becomes particularly important when a mission has a constrained schedule or budget, because there may not be resources or opportunity to recover from a problem.  This presentation will explain reliability and related metrics, and how to flow down a reliability requirement from a top-level system to sub-systems. This presentation will explain how reliability information is rolled up from components and subsystems to larger systems.  Some specific topics that contribute to reliability will be mentioned, and general reliability analyses, such as a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis, will be described.  Electronics reliability will be the focus.  All topics will emphasize practical techniques.

Daniel J. Weidman is a Mission Assurance Engineer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory working on reliability engineering testing and analysis for the Laboratory’s most complex space projects. He supports all aspects of mission assurance, including safety, reliability, systems engineering, quality, and project management, throughout the life cycle of each project. Specifically, this includes applying systems engineering and reliability engineering techniques and analyses such as failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA or FMECA, similar to the description in MIL-STD-1629A Procedures for Performing a Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis), and reliability prediction as described in MIL-HDBK-217F Reliability Prediction of Electronic Equipment.  He presently is working on the largest “Level 1” program at MIT Lincoln Lab.  In addition to these efforts specific to this program, he also helps improve those processes that are common to Lab programs.  This position is part of the Safety and Mission Assurance Office, which reports to the Lincoln Laboratory Director.

• Dr. Weidman is an IEEE Senior Member and was Chair of the IEEE Boston Reliability ChapterBoston, which is a joint chapter with Providence, RI and New Hampshire.  He was elected Chair for three years, 2012 through 2014.  The Boston chapter has been ranked one of the top three IEEE Reliability Chapters in the world, according to the IEEE Reliability Society for the last several years.
• Dr. Weidman started working as a Reliability Engineer 11 years ago in the semiconductor industry, where he led a project that that reduced the cost of the physical vapor deposition machine by $22,000 and reduced cost of ownership by $29,000/year, while increasing the average availability from less than 85% to more than 90%.
• Before that, he worked at two start-ups, testified as an expert witness in a federal lawsuit, won an SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) grant from the NIH (National Institutes of Health), and conducted research at two Navy laboratories.  He holds an S.B. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.
• Dr. Weidman is the author or co-author of more than 20 journal articles and technical reportsin publications, and more than 60 conference presentations.

This meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, MA. It will begin with personal networking at 5:30 PM. The presentation will follow at 6:00 PM.  Refreshments, compliments of the Reliability Chapter, will be available.  You do not need to belong to IEEE to attend this event; however we welcome your consideration of IEEE memberships as career enhancing technical affiliations. We request that you register to attend by Friday, March 6, so we can plan the refreshments.

You can register on-line by visiting the Reliability Chapter website at http://www.ieee.org/bostonrel

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is located at 244 Wood Street, Lexington, MA 02421.

Directions to Lincoln Laboratory: (from Interstate-95 / Route 118)

From the north (southbound):

• Take Exit 31B and merge onto Routes 4/225 towards Bedford
• Stay in right lane and go 0.3 miles from exit.
• Use Right Turning Lane just before traffic light to access Hartwell Ave. at 1st Traffic Light.
• Follow Hartwell Ave. for about 1.2 miles to Wood St.
• Turn left onto Wood Street and drive 0.3 mile.
• Turn right into MIT Lincoln Laboratory at the Wood Street Gate
• Have a valid driver’s license to present to security:
• Attending the IEEE Reliability presentation in the cafeteria.

From the south (northbound)

• Take Exit 30B and merge onto Route 2A – Stay in right lane
• Go about 0.4 miles to second traffic light and turn right on to Mass. Ave (opposite Minuteman Tech.).
• Follow Mass. Ave for ~ 0.4 miles.
• Turn left onto Wood Street and drive for 1.0 mile.
• Turn left into MIT Lincoln Lab at the Wood Street Gate
• Have a valid driver’s license to present to security:
• Attending the IEEE Reliability presentation in the cafeteria.

Park in the Visitor Parking area. To get to the Cafeteria, proceed toward the Main Entrance of MIT Lincoln Laboratory, but before entering the building, proceed down the stairs hidden to the left of the Main Entrance. Turn right at the bottom of the stairs and enter the building through the Cafeteria entrance. The Cafeteria is located directly ahead.

Web map link:  http://www.ll.mit.edu/about/map.html

To assist us better plan this meeting, please pre-register at: http://www.ieeeboston.org/Register/.