New optimal mission abort policies for coherent systems using signature

Abstract

For critical systems, such as satellites and aircraft, survivability can be extremely important as failures can result in irreversible economic loss and even casualties. A mission abort policy and the subsequent rescue procedure are effective tools for increasing the survivability of systems performing missions of fixed or variable duration. However, it comes at a price of decreasing the mission success probability. Therefore, a reasonable trade-off should be achieved. This problem has been studied in numerous publications, however, we are the first to discuss general multi-component coherent systems. Moreover, the new methodology based on signatures describing coherent systems is employed for description and defining a criterion of abort. Several optimization problems are formulated and discussed. The detailed numerical examples illustrate our findings and justify the developed innovative approach. © IMechE 2025.