On dependent multi-state semi-coherent systems based on multi-state joint signature (Q2157403)

Informally, a `system' consists of several `components' which are connected in some fashion; the system works or fails depending on the working or failure of its components. Usually, one assumes that the lifetimes (till failure) of the system's components are i.i.d. (with a continuous distribution). The signature of the system is defined as the probability vector whose \(i\)-th coordinate is equal to the probability that \(i\) component failures cause the whole system to fail. The signature encodes some of the system's characteristics. In the paper under review, the authors consider two multi-state systems (i.e., with more states than just working/failure), which share some components (the components are binary -- they either work or fail). They introduce and study a \textit{multi-state joint signature} of such systems.