EVALUATION OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS FOR SYSTEM PERFORMANCE EFFECTIVENESS. VOLUME I. SEARCH RESULTS AND MODELING TECHNIQUES.

Abstract : This two-volume report primarily concerns search results - with specific identification of all items found in the search - with supporting discussion to better indicate areas of concentration and to bring together the search findings, with most of the emphasis on cost and optimization. The prime areas of search also included maintainability (particularly maintainability cost trade-off) and statistics (regression or least squares and time series analysis). In the more formal areas of optimization and statistics many programs are available, and the more efficient ones or those with specific capabilities were selected for evaluation. In cost and maintainability the programs that are available usually apply to a specific application which is not necessarily of interest to NASL; however, the techniques are of interest. Thus considerable effort was devoted to bringing together these techniques, whether programmed or not, to indicate and to assess their value to SPE analyses. The related areas of search were circuit analysis, reliability, logistics, availability, and simulation. The results in the related areas are reported in tabular form with appropriate references identified. Volume II of this report contains the program summaries and evaluations in the prime areas: cost, optimization, statistics, and maintainability. (Author)