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Abstract:
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Accelerated life tests (ALTs) can provide timely assessments of reliability. A frequently asked question, coming near to the end of an ALT program, is "What do these test results say about field performance?" ALTs are carefully controlled whereas the field environment is highly variable. Products in the field see, for example, different average use rates across the product population. With good characterization of field use conditions, it may be possible to use ALT results to predict field reliability. When use rate information is not available but both life test data and field data are available, it may be possible to find a model to relate the two data sets. Under a reasonable set of practical assumptions, this model can then be used to predict the failure time distribution for a future component or product operating in the same use environment.
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