MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)
n.
measurement of reliability for electronic components (Computers, Electronics)
Failure rate
Mean time between failures
Mean time between failures (MTBF) is the
mean (average) time between
failures of a system, and is often attributed to the "useful life" of the device i.e. not including 'infant mortality' or 'end of life'. Calculations of MTBF assume that a system is "
renewed", i.e. fixed, after each failure, and then returned to service immediately after failure. The average time between failing and being returned to service is termed
mean down time (MDT) or mean time to repair (MTTR).
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MTBF
mean time between failures (MTBF)
1. An indicator of expected
system reliability calculated on a statistical basis from the known
failure rates of various components of the system. Note: MTBF is usually expressed in hours. 2 . Of a system, over a long
performance measurement period, the measurement period divided by the number of failures that have occurred during the measurement period. 3. For population of items, during a measurement period, the total functioning life of the population of items divided by the total number of failures within the population during the measurement period. Note 1: The total functioning life of the population may be calculated as the summation of the operating life of every item in the population over the measurement period. When computing the MTBF, any measure of operating life may be used, such as
time, cycles, kilometers, or events. Note 2: For example, if a total of 1,000 events, such as
data transfers,
radio transmissions, or
system boots, occurs in a population of items during a measurement period of 100 hours and there are a total of 10 failures among the entire population, the MTBF for each item is (1000)(100)/10 = 104 hours.
MTBF
(c) Copyright 1993 by Denis Howe
MTBF
Mean Time Between Failure - the average time between failures for a given piece of equipment or equipment set.