Method and apparatus for constrained system attribute allocation under uncertain usage profiles
View Patent ↗A method (and structure) of planning allocation of life cycle resources for a system including a plurality of components whereby the system inherits attributes from its components according to its structural architecture and in terms of an uncertainty of usage in operation.
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor to calculate a planning allocation of resources for stages of product life cycle of a system comprising a plurality of components, based upon characterizing a system attribute of interest by an uncertainty of usage of said system, said uncertainty of usage described using random variables whose values are characterized by a probability distribution that describes a potential usage of said components; and
a graphical user interface for interacting with a display device selectively permitting information of said planning allocation of resources to be viewed by a user.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said planning seeks to attain a target of a system attribute for said system.
3. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising:
computing an optimal solution for said allocation of resources to achieve said target.
4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein said attribute comprises at least one of:
reliability;
performance;
capability;
maintainability;
serviceability;
upgrade capability;
availability;
usability; and
replaceability.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 , where said system attribute is characterized as a function of an operational profile and system architecture.
6. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein said system comprises software components, said software components optionally including multiple software entities or multiple subsystems or modules of a single software entity.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said usage is characterized by an operational profile wherein a plurality of operations are included.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein said operational profile is characterized by a probability distribution.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said probability distribution comprises a Dirichlet distribution.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said uncertainty of usage is based on a usage of each component in said system for an operation.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 , said uncertainty of usage further being based upon usages of each said component over a plurality of operations to generate an operational profile.
12. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor to compute an optimum solution for a planning allocation of product life cycle resources for a system comprising a plurality of components, wherein said system is characterized by an uncertainty of usage, said uncertainty of usage described using random variables whose values are characterized by a probability distribution that describes a potential usage of said components; and
a memory interface to store said optimum solution in a memory.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein said optimum solution is based on a pre-selected target for an attribute of said system.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein said usage is characterized by an operational profile.
15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein said operational profile is characterized as a collection of random variables.
16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein a Dirichlet distribution is used to characterize the collection of random variables.
17. A machine-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with a program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform a method of planning an allocation of life cycle resources for a system, said machine-readable instructions comprising:
a calculator module to compute an optimum solution for a planning allocation of life cycle resources for a system comprising a plurality of components, wherein said system is characterized by an uncertainty of usage of said components and a system architecture across the plurality of components, said uncertainty of usage described using random variables whose values are characterized by a probability distribution that describes a potential usage of said components.
18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein said optimum solution is based on a pre-selected target for an attribute of said system.
19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein said usage is characterized by an operational profile.
20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein said operational profile is characterized as a collection of random variables.
21. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 20 , wherein a Dirichlet distribution is used to characterize the collection of random variables.
22. A system, comprising:
means for receiving a target for an attribute of a system comprising a plurality of components, said system is characterized by an uncertainty of usage and a system architecture across the plurality of components, said uncertainty of usage described using random variables whose values are characterized by a probability distribution that describes a potential usage of said components; and
means for computing an optimum solution for a planning allocation of life cycle resources for said system.