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Abstract
This article considers optimal maintenance and allocation of elements in a Linear Multi-state Consecutively Connected System (LMCCS), which is important in signal transmission and other network systems. The system consists of N+1 linearly ordered positions (nodes) and fails if the first node (source) is not connected with the final node (sink). The reliability of an LMCCS has been studied in the past but has been restricted to the case when each system element has a constant reliability. In practice, system elements usually fail with increasing failure probability due to aging effects. Furthermore, in order to increase system availability, resources can be put into the maintenance of each element to increase the availability of the element. In this article, a framework is proposed to solve the cost optimal maintenance and allocation strategy of this type of system subject to an availability requirement. A universal generating function is used to estimate the availability of the system. A genetic algorithm is adopted for optimization. Illustrative examples are presented.