Basic requirements for proven-in-use arguments
This addresses the need for flexible and generalizable safety or reliability arguments in engineering domains, though it is incremental as it builds on existing probabilistic frameworks.
The paper tackles the problem of applying proven-in-use arguments to products in new environments by moving from restrictive probability models to a general probabilistic model based on Grigelionis or Palm Khintchine theorems, allowing application to a broad class of products without unnecessary limitations.
Proven-in-use arguments are needed when pre-developed products with an in-service history are to be used in different environments than those they were originally developed for. A product may include software modules or may be stand-alone integrated hardware and software modules.The topic itself is not new, but most recent approaches have been based on elementary probability such as urn models which lead to very restrictive requirements for the system or software to which it has been applied. The aim of this paper is to base the argumentation on a general probabilistic model based on Grigelionis or Palm Khintchine theorems, so that the results can be applied to a very general class of products without unnecessary limitations. The advantage of such an approach is also that the same requirements hold for a broad class of products.