An algorithm for performance evaluation of multi-state weighted k-out-of-n systems

The k-out-of-n systems have been extensively studied in recent years. A new, more general model: a weighted k-out-of-n: G system has been proposed. Because it makes more sense to have the same weight value if the components are iid (independently and identically distributed), this paper makes further research in this situation and brings forward an algorithm for computing its reliability. Furthermore, a more general model-multi-state(MS) weighted k-out-of-n system is brought forward in this paper. We give the detail definition of this model, propose a recursive algorithm to calculate it and confirm its efficiency by comparing it with the enumerative method. In addition, we extend the general MS weighted k-out-of-n system to a special situation, consider the iid situation and discuss its relationship with the general Multi-State k-out-of-n: G system.