ABSTRACT
The history of the reliability discipline may be traced back to the early years of the 1930s, when probability concepts were applied to problems associated with electric power systems [1, 2]. However, its real beginning is generally regarded as World War II, when German scientists applied basic reliability concepts to improve the reliability of their V1 and V2 rockets [3]. Today, the reliability field has become a well-developed discipline and has branched out into areas such as software reliability, mechanical reliability, human reliability, and power system reliability [3-5].
