What does dependability mean in the systems engineering industry?

Answer 1

-Systems that are unreliable, unsafe or insecure are often rejected by their users

-System failure costs may be very high.

-Untrustworthy systems may cause information loss with a high consequent recovery cost.

Answer 2

If you were flying in an aircraft and some mechanical problem happened, you would like to think that the whole aircraft didn't depend on that one component in that very critical aircraft that you were flying. Critical systems usually have backup systems and redundancy systems built into their design - your aircraft normally has more that one engine to get you down in the event that one fails. A lot of design time has been learnt through the ages on how, why, when and under what conditions components and systems fail, and all that knowledge helps to make newer systems more dependable. 50 years ago cars were not at dependable as they are today. People expect their cars to start whatever the weather these days, drive for miles without servicing them and not breakdown all the time.

Answer 3

In the systems engineering industry, dependability is a measure of a system's reliability, availability and its maintenance support. Dependability can be brokendown into attributes, means and threats.

Answer 4

Major power system failures can and do result in loss of life to one degree or another.