Technological progress in electronics quickly provided new and greatly improved ways of controlling manufacturing and communications systems. The testing, especially accelerated reliability testing (ART) / accelerated durability testing (ADT) solutions for reliability, maintainability, quality, and supportability, are relatively undeveloped in comparison with technological (functional) solutions. In this chapter, a system to increase quality, reliability, and maintainability through the application of an interdisciplinary system of systems (SoS) approach is outlined. This disciplined approach takes into account the interactions and the interconnections of reliability with quality, safety, human factors, maintainability, and other relevant parameters. In order to understand the interactions and the interconnections among these influencing factors, one must understand the underlying governing mechanisms.

Controlled Vocabulary Terms

communication equipment