Asymptotic distributions for downtimes of monotone systems

Abstract

Consider a monotone system with independent alternating renewal processes as component processes, and assume the component uptimes are exponentially distributed. In this paper we study the asymptotic properties of the distribution of the rth downtime of the system, as the failure rates of the components converge to zero. We show that this distribution converges, and the limiting function has a simple form. Thus we have established an easy computable approximation formula for the downtime distribution of the system for highly available systems. We also show that the steady state downtime distribution, i.e. the downtime distribution of a system failure occurring after an infinite run-in period, converges to the same limiting function as the failure rates converge to zero.