Reliability optimization of a series system with multiple-choice and budget constraints

This paper considers a reliability optimization problem for a series system with multiple-choice constraints incorporated at each subsystem to maximize the system reliability subject to the system budget. The problem is formulated as a nonlinear binary integer programming problem and characterized as an NP-hard problem. In the problem analysis, some solution properties are characterized to reduce the solution space in advance. A branch-and-bound solution algorithm is then derived based on the reduced solution space to search for the optimal solution. The algorithm is tested for its efficiency with randomly generated numerical examples.