Reliability

In which environment is the rate of soft errors caused by cosmic-ray neutrons higher?

  1. AFacilities deep underground
  2. BHigh-altitude locations and inside aircraft
  3. CUnderwater
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Answer: B. High-altitude locations and inside aircraft

Neutrons produced when cosmic rays collide with the atmosphere increase with altitude. The soft error rate is therefore higher at high altitudes and inside aircraft than at ground level. Aircraft, space equipment, data centers and the like use measures such as error correction and redundancy.

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More Reliability questions

  1. Which standard is widely used as the reliability qualification standard for automotive integrated circuits?
  2. When the failure rate λ is constant, which expression gives the probability of no failure up to time t (reliability) R(t)?
  3. What is the mean time to failure (MTTF) of a part with a constant failure rate of 1×10⁻⁵ per hour?
  4. What is the reliability of a system with two parts of reliability 0.9 connected in parallel, which functions if either one works?
  5. What is the reliability of a system with two parts of reliability 0.9 connected in series, which functions only if both work?