Reliability Society Newsletter

 

Vol. 57, No. 1. February 2011

Table of Content

Front page:
President's Message

From the Editor

Messages from VPs:

VP Publications Report from Dr. Robert Loomis

Society News:

2011 EXCOM and ADCOM Members

Prestigious Engineer of the Year Award

Best Chapter Awards

AdCom Meeting

Nominations for IEEE Medals and Recognitions

RS seeks Administrative Committee Candidates for 2012/2013/2014 Term

Reliability Society Past AdCom Members Obituaries:
Former RS President Monshaw Dies At 84

Obituary for Ann Miller


Feature Articles:
Reliability through the Ages

Reliability Overview of Air Traffic Reliability in the National Air Space

 

 

Regular Articles:

Field Based Reliability Calculations (MTBF) – Surmounting Practical Challenges. An outside the box approach.

Applying basic and familiar reliability theory to estimating and improving the avialablity of software-intensive systems

Fault Tolerance in Web Services


PHM Articles:

Detection of Multiple Failure-Modes in Electronics using Self-Organized Mapping

 


Book Review :

Reliability Engineering Book Review


Chapter Activities:
Cleveland Chapter

Taipei/Tainan Chapter

The Denver Chapter awarded a certificate to Hobbs Engineering

Announcements:
Solicitation for Society Technical Committees

UK&RI Workshop on Reliability and Safety

WCEAM-IMS 2001



Links:
Reliability Society Home


RS Newsletter Homepage

President's Message

Reliability Society Members,

The year of 2010 finished in a positive fashion for the Reliability Society. The IEEE TAB conducted their 5 year reviews which resulted in positive reports and recognized best practices based on their Publication Review on the Transactions on Reliability and their Society Review of our Society. In November, the Reliability Society was presented an Award from the IEEE Educational Activities Board for the broad RS training approaches – the RS was the only Society to receive an Award. Then at year end, the 2010 financial outcome was very positive. These were nice 2010 pluses for our Society. Thanks to our ExCom and AdCom members for this success.

At our January AdCom meeting and at the AdCom Awards Banquet, the elected 2011-2013 AdCom members were recognized and they are: Faye Bilger, Joe Childs, Lou Gullo, Robert Loomis, Todd Weatherford, and Eric Wong. The AdCom approved the appointment of Pradeep Lall and Jia Zhang as AdCom members to fill vacancies, with their term ending at the end of this year. Dr. Shiuhpyng Shieh was recognized as the new RS Newsletter Editor and an AdCom member. Also recognized were the 2011 RS Officers, who in cluded me as your RS President, VP Meetings and Conferences - Alfred Stevens, VP Membership - Marsha Abramo, VP Publications - Robert Loomis, VP Technical Activities - Lon Chase, Secretary - Sam Keene, and Treasurer - Christian Hansen. Special guests at our AdCom meeting were Matt Leob, IEEE Staff Executive, who presented the IEEE Strategy overview and Bill Tonti, IEEE Staff - Director of Future Technology Directions, who presented the directional topics for IEEE technical recognition. During the AdCom meeting, Jeff Voas presented our outgoing Treasurer, Dick Kowalski, with our Service Appreciation plaque. The plaque stated “Thanks for your honorable contributions to the Reliability Society for decades and for your great return services as our Treasurer. Your efforts and involvement are greatly appreciated.” Dick, enjoy your retirement.

At the AdCom Awards Banquet, two of our Engineer of the Year Awards were presented. One was presented to Michael Rung-Tsong Lyu for achievements in software reliability modeling, measurement, and engineering. The other one was presented to James Bret Michael for achievements in applying practical formal methods for assurance of large complex distributed systems. Our Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Henry Hartt for over 45 years of innovative R&M Assurance support to the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs Office, NASA HQ Office of Safety and Mission Assurance, Royal Navy, IEEE RS/ADCOM, and the RAMS Symposium. Congratulations to the Awardees.

At the Banquet, Jeff Voas was presented a Leadership Recognition plaque for his superb leadership and representation of the Reliability Society. Two honorable RS members have passed away recently and were acknowledged. Jeff Voas honored Ann Miller, a past AdCom member, and Tom Fagan honored Val Monshaw, a past AdCom member and past RS President. To highlight the Banquet, Michael Austin, VP of BYD America, presented a keynote talk on an interesting topic: "How to Drive Mass-Market Adoption of Green Technologies".

After our RS meetings, I stayed and attended RAMS, which the RS co-sponsors. I attended a number of the presentations, met with numerous contacts which I have known over many years with a number from around the world, and established a number of new contacts. RAMS is a very beneficial symposium.

Our RS focus and goals are (1) to increase our revenue so that we can continue to initiate new aspects, (2) to increase our membership by focusing on attracting current IEEE members, and (3) to update / refine our Technical Activities to attract member participation and to enhance member benefits.  From a revenue standpoint, several additional conferences were initiated; seminar / webinar training approaches are being investigated; and new publication aspects are being evaluated. Membership expansion is being evaluated based on membership TIP codes and possible data access. Technical Activities are open to all members and does need member involvement / leadership. It you are interested in certain topics and would like to be involved with or lead a Team, please let us know. Contact me or Lon Chase, Technical Activities VP. Please consider and get involved.

Looking forward to a positive 2011!

Best regards,

Dennis Hoffman
2011 RS President

 

From the Editor

The Reliability Society Newsletter has been the society's primary media for sharing thoughts on reliability related issues and announcements of events of interest to our members. As the former editor Christian Hansen became the Treasurer, it is my pleasure to start my term as the Editor-in-Chief of the newsletter. I sincerely hope our members can continue sharing your thoughts through our newsletter.

As the first issue of 2011, I would like to thank the RS Officers, AdCom members, Chapter chairs and members at large who have contributed to the February issue.

The February issue features “Reliability through the Ages,” by President Way Kuo of City University of Hong Kong, and "Reliability Overview of Air Traffic Reliability in the National Air Space," by Dr. Sam Keene, Secretary of IEEE Reliability Society. A new section on Prognostic Health Management (PHM) is included in this issue. Dr. Pradeep Lall is the editor handled the PHM section. You are encouraged to contribute your ideas to the new section. For further information please contact Dr. Lall.

This newsletter will publish content deemed appropriate for and of interest to members of the IEEE Reliability Society and members of the reliability profession in general. Accepted content includes announcements and reports of activities sponsored by the Reliability Society including chapter meetings, workshops and conferences.

Technical papers including reviews, opinions, case studies or new ideas for the reliability professional are welcomed and accepted without external review. Authors are solely responsible for the correctness of results presented and proper citation of work by others.

Deadlines for submission of content:

Feb. 10 (Issue No. 1/2011)
May 10 (Issue No. 2/2011)
Aug. 10 (Issue No. 3/2011)
Nov. 10 (Issue No. 4/2011)
 

I look forward to working with you as I begin my term as the Editor-in-Chief of Reliability Society Newsletter in 2011. If you have any suggestions or comments on the newsletter, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

My best wishes for a healthy and happy new year.

Shiuhpyng Shieh, PhD
Newsletter Editor-in-Chief

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