The Reliability Engineering Glossary
Reliability engineering and related fields use a vocabulary unique to our field of endeavor. For example, the term ‘reliability’ has the meaning of ‘trustworthy’ in everyday English use. For us, ‘reliability’ has a precise engineering definition.
Glossary description and plans
This glossary is meant to help us learn the language of reliability engineering. The category of ‘Terms’ is like a dictionary, including terms and their definitions as used by engineers. The category of ‘Methods’ is a listing of the techniques, tools, approaches, or concepts that may be found within a reliability plan. In the near future, we expect to expand the ‘Methods’ pages to include guidelines on use or application, examples, and additional references.
We also plan to expand the glossary to include formulas and failure mechanisms. Please let us know if there is another list of terms that should be added if you do not find a term that should be included or if you would like to recommend a change to an existing entry.
Method Categories
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- Blur Edge Time (BET)A measure of the amount of motion blur on an electronic display, especially liquid crystal display. Read More
- Body of knowledge (BOK)The prescribed aggregation of knowledge in a particular area an individual is expected to have mastered to be considered or certified as a practitioner. Read More
- Body Referenced InterfacesInterfaces that are controlled by the dynamic movements of the human body, such as virtual environments. Read More
- Boltzmann’s constantA constant equal to 1.38 x 10^–23 joule per kelvin or 8.62 x 10^–5 electron-volt per kelvin. Abbreviated as k. Read More
- Bond shearA test or measurement process using an instrument with a chisel-shaped tool to shear or push a ball or wedge bond off the bond pad. (reference: JESD22-B116A, 9/09) Read More
- Borescope inspectionA maintenance technique that employs an optical device (borescope) for performing visual inspections of internal parts of an assembly, usually through ports provided for that purpose. Read More
- Bottom lineThe essential or salient point; the primary or most important consideration. Also, the line at the bottom of a financial report that shows the net profit or loss. Read More
- Boundary scanA electronics test, debugging, or diagnostics method designed into the IC or circuit. The method observes the I/O buffers of a circuit or functional block and are controlled by scan cells. Read More
- Box-Behnken designsEfficient, highly fractional, three-level factorial designs employed when full second-order polynomial models are to be used in response surface studies of three or more factors. A form of a response surface design. Read More
- BrainstormingA technique teams use to generate ideas on a particular subject. Each person on the team is asked to think creatively and write down as many ideas as possible. The ideas are not discussed or reviewed until after the brainstorming session. Read More
- BrazeA metallic material using in a brazing process to join two metals or metallized components. Read More
- Breakthrough improvementA dynamic, decisive movement to a new, higher level of performance. Read More
- Built-In Self-Test (BIST)Nondestructive ways to verify the operation and functions of a circuit; usually done multiple times "on the fly" at either startup or field usage stage. BIT is an integral capability of the mission equipment, which provides an onboard, automated test capability, consisting of software or(...) Read More
- Built-in test equipment (BITE)Any device permanently mounted in the prime product or item and used for the express purpose of testing the product or item, either independently or in association with external test equipment. Read More
- Burn-inA technique for applying stress to an item to reveal items with latent defects while not adversely harming items without latent defects. This technique may provide information for improving manufacturing processes. Burn-in refers to the application of low to modest stress (often involving only(...) Read More
- BusAn electronics common signal or power path for from one or more sources to one or more destinations. Read More
- Business process reengineering (BPR)The concentration on improving business processes to deliver outputs that will achieve results meeting the firm’s objectives, priorities and mission. Read More
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- CalibrationA comparison of a measuring device with a known standard. It is a set of operations that establish, under specified conditions, the relationship between a measuring device (observations of the response variable) and a traceable standard of known reference value and uncertainty (reference(...) Read More
- Calibration functionThe functional relationship between the expected value (response variable) and the net state variable. Read More
- Calibration IntervalA specified amount of time or set of conditions between calibrations during which the calibration parameters of a measuring device are considered valid. Read More
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