Solution
MTBF stands for Mean Time Between Failures. It is one of many metrics used to try to determine the reliability of a product. MTBF is a predictive metric used to attempt to forecast potential product failures based on a mathematical model of a number of factors, primarily the components and uses of components on a product. MTBF is usually measured in hours, and is listed for some of devices in their specification sheet
As MTBFs attempt to predict future failures based on models, it may be more or less successful in actually reflecting the reliability of a product. For NI products, MTBF is not a reliable indicator of hardware failure frequency. MTBF should not be used as a measure to predict precisely when a device will fail for NI devices.
In order to request an MTBF specification that is not already available, please
contact technical support and have the following information available:
- Model number of the device for which the MTBF calculation is desired
- Desired MTBF calculation model
- Environmental Conditions for the model
- Ambient operating temperature during test
- Operating duty cycle