[SystemSafety] Systematic and random error in systems

[Olwen Morgan]

On 06/11/2018 04:51, Peter Bernard Ladkin wrote:
> <snip>
> 3.6.5
> random hardware failure
>
> failure, occurring at a random time, which results from one or more of the possible degradation
> mechanisms in the hardware
<snip>
> 3.6.6
> systematic failure
>
> failure, related in a deterministic way to a certain cause, which can only be eliminated by a
> modification of the design or of the manufacturing process, operational procedures, documentation or
> other relevant factors.

<snip>

I find these definitions more than a little mystifying. The first seems 
to me to be incomplete. If, say, a few stray photons zap a bit in 
memory, this is physically a random event but it hardly seems to be 
captured under what one would normally understand as degradation. And 
how can you eliminate systematic failure by documenting it?

Standardisation failure strikes again?

Olwen