High Reliability Electronics Standards

Standards for high reliability electronics are a constellation of documents from different standards developing organizations, each contributing in their field of expertise. Here, the Government Electronics & Information Technology Association (GEIA) and TechAmerica, the organization GEIA merged into, have published standards dealing with the electronics themselves. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), contributed standards detailing the testing of electronics for counterfeiting, alteration, and so forth. ISO and IEC, both wide ranging international standards organizations, published standards addressing interoperability and universal models for reliability prediction. In essence, as reliability in electronics is such an important issue, and touches upon so many different aspects, everyone contributes their share of knowledge.

MilSpecs for high reliability electronics are a combination of military standards (MIL-STD) and military handbooks (MIL-HDBK) that focus on performance criteria without specifying the design details to allow for maximum innovation on the part of designers while still producing provably reliable electronics in the end. Given the conditions under which the military operates and with how little room for error it does so, the electronics that are used have to be reliable to a degree that consumer markets generally do not demand, in situations that ordinary consumers will not encounter, and subjected to conditions that are unique to the military.

Standards from SAE for high reliability electronics address automotive electronics, as well as those for the aerospace industry. The electronics within a car, a fast moving, heavy object that contains within itself living people, must be reliable enough to trust with such a precious cargo. Electronics in the aerospace industry, whether designed for enormous passenger jets or for pivotal fighter jets, only raise the stakes involved higher, further solidifying the need for a standardized approach to electronics shown to be reliable in the environments and circumstances they will face.