Reliability of a \(k\)-out-of-\(n\) system with repair and retrial of failed units (Q1969167)

The authors study a \(k\)-out-of-\(n\) system, that is one which has \(n\) components (units). The system fails the moment the number of functional units falls to \(k-1.\) Three cases are discussed separately: Cold system that is on system failure there is no failure of units that are not in failed state when the system is down. Warm system that is operational units continue to deteriorate when the system is down. Hot system that is one whose operational components have the same failure rate during system down time as when the system is up. Let \[ X(t)=\begin{cases} 0& \text{if the server is idle at time }t, \\ 1& \text{if the server is busy at time }t, \end{cases} \] and \(Y(t)\) be the number of units in orbit at time \(t.\) Under some assumption on the random process \(\{ X(t), Y(t)\}\) the authors derive the first pasage time distribution to the down state of the system starting from the state \((0,0)\), they obtain the expected time the system is continuously down or continuously up and the first return time distribution to \((0,0).\)