Citation
Abstract
This article reports on past and present reliability and availability characteristics of the DSN Traveling Wave Maser (TWM) Assemblies. For the years 1981 through 1983, the characteristics determined are: Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) — 1200 hours; Mean Time to Restore Service (MTTRS) — 2.5 hours; and Availability — 99.83%. The TWM MTBF currently is very good relative to other DSN subsystems and assemblies; however, it has been significantly better in the past — in the late 1970s it was 3000 hours. The TWM MTTRS is currently about three times as long as the average of other DSN subsystems. The dominant cause of TWM failures is contamination of the helium gas in the closed cycle refrigerators. Station configurations that do not provide TWM redundancy are subject to having reception outages for long periods of time. A number of recommendations are made to improve the TWM Assembly availability characteristics for future mission support operations. Many of the recommendations result from a network-wide workshop of TWM experts that was recently conducted at the Canberra Complex.
Details
- Volume
- 42-78
- Published
- August 15, 1984
- Pages
- 192–198
- File Size
- 540.2 KB