MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) is a statistical method developed and administered by the U.S. military for purposes of estimating maintenance levels required by various devices and systems. Since accurate statistics require a basis of 'failures per million hours of operation,' an MTBF estimate on a single device is not very accurate; it would take 114 years to see if the device really had that many failures! Similarly, since the
MTBF is an estimate of averages, half of the devices can be expected to fail before then, and half after. MTBF cannot be used as a guarantee. Telecommunications systems operate on the principle of ' Availability,' for which there is a body of CCITT Recommendations. Research MTBF
Abbreviations
Research MTBF
