Fides (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''trust'') is a guide allowing estimated reliability calculation for electronic components and systems. The reliability prediction is generally expressed in FIT (number of failures for 10⁹ hours) or

MTBF Mean time between failures (MTBF) is the predicted elapsed time between inherent failures of a mechanical or electronic system during normal system operation. MTBF can be calculated as the arithmetic mean (average) time between failures of a syst ...

(Mean Time Between Failures). This guide provides reliability data for RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety) studies.

Purpose

Fides is a '' DGA'' (French armament industry supervision agency) study conducted by a European consortium formed by eight

industrialists A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

from the fields of aeronautics and Defence: *

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: ' ...

France * Eurocopter *

Nexter Nexter Systems (formerly known as GIAT Industries or ''Groupement des Industries de l'Armée de Terre'', Army Industries Group) is a French government-owned weapons manufacturer, based in Roanne, Loire. Group organization The Nexter group is ...

Electronics *

MBDA MBDA is a European multinational developer and manufacturer of missiles.MBDA Inc. US Division Co ...

Missiles Systems *Thales Services *Thales Airborne Systems *Thales Avionics *

Thales Underwater Systems Thales Underwater Systems or TUS (formerly Thomson Sintra ASM, Thomson CSF DASM and then Thomson Marconi Sonar) is a subsidiary of the French defense electronics specialist Thales Group. It was created in 2001 and belongs to its naval division. It ...

The first aim of the Fides project was to develop a new reliability assessment method for electronic components which takes into consideration COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) and specific parts and the new technologies. The global aim is to find a replacement to the worldwide reference MIL-HDBK-217F, which is old and has not been revised since 1995 (issue F notice 2). Moreover, the MIL HDBK 217F is very pessimistic for COTS components which are more and more widely used in military and aerospace systems. The second aim was to write a reliability engineering guide in order to provide engineering process and tools to improve reliability in the development of new electronic systems.

Method content

The Fides guide is made of two distinct parts. The first is a reliability prediction calculation method concerning main electronic component families and complete subassemblies like

hard disks A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magneti ...

or LCD displays. The second part is a process control and audit guide which is a tool to assess the reliability quality and technical know-how in the operating time of the studied product, operational specification and maintenance.

Availability

The Fides guide is freely available on the Fides reliability website.

Standardization

The French standardisation organisation UTE (''Union Technique de l'Electricité'') has accepted the Fides publication, with the reference UTE C 80 811 (available in both French and English). An international normative reference extension ( International Electrotechnical Commission) is planned for the future.

Future

Fides has met great interest and success since the end of the study in 2004. The method has been quickly declared a standard that can be applied to French military programs. For two years, the French military experts of DGA have already used FIDES method in different major programs for Defence, in missiles or tactical telecommunications fields for example. American companies like

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

, Japanese organisations like JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) as well as French companies or organisations like '' EDF'' (''Electricité de France'', French electricity provider) or ''

CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

'' (''Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales'', the French space agency) showed an interest in FIDES methodology, but none of them are using FIDES at this time. Further developments of the Fides guide (such as the improvement of existing models and the widening of the spectrum covered by component families) resulted in a new version of the Fides guide being published in the middle of year 2009.

References

Sources

* * * * * (Software information sheet)

External links

*Fides guide website
(Requires free registration to obtain the Fides guide in both English and French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fides (Reliability) Survival analysis Reliability engineering Engineering statistics