9/28/2016

S. N. Njoroge 1 S. N. Njoroge 2

Redundancy
• Redundancy means having multiple systems working in a
parallel configuration (with respect to reliability) .
• An element is redundant if it contains backups to do its work if
it fails;
• A system is redundant if it contains redundant elements. This
can mean having several elements that work simultaneously but
REDUNDANCY are capable of carrying the ‘load’ by themselves if required
S. N. Njoroge • Redundancy and Stand-By can be used interchangeably

S. N. Njoroge 3

Redundancy
• Systems redundancy can be classified into
i. Parallel Redundancy / Hot Standby – the main item and the
standby item will be sharing equal load, and hence will have the
same hazard rate
ii. Cold Standby – the redundant part of the system is switched on
only when the main part fails. The hazard function of the item in
standby mode is zero
iii. Warm Standby System / M-out-of-N redundancy – the
redundant item will be sharing partial load along with the main
item. Thus, in a warm standby, the hazard function of the standby
item will be less than that of the main item. In some active parallel
redundant configurations,𝑚 out of the 𝑛 items may be required to
be working for the system to function.