An Entropy-based Evaluation Method of
Maintenance Support System
Zhisheng Cao
School of Reliability and Systems Engineering
Beihang University
Beijing China, 100191
caozhsh1985@126.com
Abstract—Equipment faults will produce irreversible effects
for a maintenance support system. Based on the change of
maintenance support resource in a maintenance support
organization, maintenance support process, and external
environment, the concept of maintenance support system
entropy is proposed. Without considering time and cost, it is
carried out from three aspects which are organizational
structure entropy change, support process entropy change
and environmental entropy change. The paper defines
structure entropy, operational entropy and environmental
entropy, analyzes relationship between them, builds their
entropy model and solves the maintenance support system
entropy value. Then the three-dimensional model can be
obtained which could describe the status of a maintenance
support system. On the basis of this model, the evaluation
method of a maintenance support system can be proposed.
Finally, a maintenance support system case is studied and
calculated the structure entropy value, operational entropy
value and environmental entropy value, which could be used
for selecting maintenance support programs and verifying
feasibility of this method.
Keywords—Maintenance support system; entropy;
evaluation; three-dimensional entropy model
I. INTRODUCTION
A maintenance support system is integrated and
optimized through the maintenance support elements of
overall composition, which is composed of maintenance
resources, human resources, information resources and
management tools [1]. As a part of the equipment system,
maintenance support system along with the main equipment
affects combat capability, and its evaluation is a critical
issue. In recent years, a number of articles which are related
to maintenance support system have appeared. Reference [2]
is basis for the relationship among maintenance support
organization, maintenance support resource and
maintenance support function, and builds support system
evaluation parameter with support system features.
Reference [3] considered the various elements of
maintenance support system, studied the information flow
among these elements, and proposed the framework to
analyze maintenance support system effectiveness based on
information. Reference [4] analyzed the ten influence
978-1-61284-666-8/11$26.00 2011 IEEE
Lin Ma, Naichao Wang, Yalan Wang
School of Reliability and Systems Engineering
Beihang University
Beijing China, 100191
factors to maintenance support system, and built the
relationship between these factors and system operational
readiness. Reference [5] used a system method to analyze a
variety of maintenance resources and their relationship,
focused on the exchange of information among
maintenance support resources and built the effectiveness
model of maintenance support system. Reference [6] built
the flow model of maintenance system, proposed the
measurement framework to assess maintenance system
effectiveness, and based on maintenance system
effectiveness entropy to compare and analyze different
maintenance concepts. Reference [7] based on the analysis
of resources and management elements in support system
and the importance of different evaluation elements built
the support effectiveness evaluation model. Reference [8]
pointed out six basic elements which could have an impact
on maintenance support system, used triangular fuzzy
number to quantify qualitative indicators and build support
system evaluation model. Reference [9] used Analytic
Hierarchy Process (AHP) to build support system structural
model. By analyzing evaluation methods of maintenance
support system, it shows that existing research methods are
focused on elements of maintenance support system and
assess the maintenance support system effectiveness.
However, the research of element change is considerably
weak, which does not propose parameters to measure
maintenance support system status change and shows a lack
of theoretical method. Under the condition of fixed time
and cost, through the analysis of influence factors in
maintenance support system and changes of their dynamic
state, this paper proposes a concept of maintenance support
system entropy and a method for assessing maintenance
support system by using maintenance support system
entropy.
This paper consists of four sections. The first section
studies the change of maintenance support system and
proposes the influence factors of maintenance support
system. The second section defines the concept of
maintenance support system entropy and analyzes the
model of structural entropy, operational entropy and
environmental entropy in a maintenance support system.
The third section analyzes the relationship among structural
entropy, operational entropy and environmental entropy
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and establishes the three-dimensional model of
maintenance support system. The fourth section verifies the
feasibility of this method by using a maintenance support
system case. The fifth section summarizes this paper and
points out the direction of future work.
II. THE INFLUENCE FACTORS OF MAINTENANCE
SUPPORT SYSTEM
The function of maintenance support system is to
complete the maintenance tasks and transfers the technical
state of equipment until it fulfils the regulated requirements.
The capability of maintenance support system not only
depends on its elements and their relationship, but also
correlates with environment. It is an important task for
establishing and improving a maintenance support system
through equipment development, acquisition and operation
phase [1]. Analyzing and assessing a maintenance support
system is an important content in equipment Integrated
Logistics Support (ILS) engineering, which is important for
maintenance support system. After equipment is repaired in
a maintenance support system, equipment could have an
irreversible impact on the maintenance support system,
which is mainly reflected by the occupation and
consumption of resources. Based on the different influence
of elements for maintenance support system, it could be
classified as the three classes, i.e. maintenance support
organization, maintenance support process and environment.
Maintenance support organization means equipment
maintenance agencies, which is composed of several
support stations. Usually, these support stations could be
divided into three maintenance level, and they are
organizational-level, intermediate-level and depot-level.
One support station has a few resources, such as manpower,
spares and consumable, tools and support equipment,
technical data and computer resource and so on and so forth
[2]
. In the process of maintenance support action,
maintenance resource will move among support stations,
which could result in the change of resource allocation and
reflect the change of maintenance support capability. All of
these will affect the maintenance support system. Therefore,
maintenance support organization is an influence factor for
a maintenance support system.
Maintenance support process is a set of maintenance
support actions, and every maintenance support action
needs corresponding resources. Common actions are
included fault localization, disassemble, procuring
components, install, test and so on and so forth [10]. In the
process of maintenance support action, the configuration of
equipment is always changing until it fulfils the regulated
requirements. Because of the occupation and consumption
of resources, the resource state will change, so will the
maintenance support capability, which has an impact on a
maintenance support system. Therefore, maintenance
support process is also an influence factor for a
maintenance support system.
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It is worth notice that environment is also an important
influence factor for a maintenance support system.
Different environmental factors may have different
influences on a maintenance support system. Environment
is the general term for the mission environment and supply
support environment, which includes many factors, such as
faulty equipment, preventive maintenance, resource input,
equipment inherent characteristics (reliability,
maintainability and supportability) and so on and so forth.
These factors can be divided into two aspects. One aspect is
positive influence factor, which means that the change of
factor could promote maintenance support capability. The
other aspect is negative factor, which means that the change
of factor could reduce maintenance support capability. In
the maintenance support action, the environment change
could affect the resource, and then affect the maintenance
support system.
III. MAINTENANCE SUPPORT SYSTEM ENTROPY
A. Maintenance support system entropy and its features
As the function for measuring system state, entropy has
been used in many domains. When it is used for describing
and evaluating a system state, it means the direction and
velocity of system state. Reference [11] established the
operational model of a manufacturing system and assessed
the state of system based on entropy. Reference [12]
analyzed the influence factors of a manufacturing system
and established the entropy method, which could assess the
state of the manufacturing system.
Based on the features of maintenance support system,
the concept of maintenance support system entropy can be
defined as follow. Maintenance support system entropy is
the state variable which is used for measuring the state
change of a maintenance support system. The more the
entropy increases, the larger system state changes. As the
state function of maintenance support system, maintenance
support system entropy could assist management decision.
Maintenance support system entropy has the following
features:
z Diversity. Maintenance support system entropy,
based on the different aspects of a maintenance
support system, can be divided into structure
entropy, operational entropy, and environmental
entropy.
z Directionality. The direction of the entropy change
in a maintenance support system is restricted.
z Independence. Entropy among maintenance
support systems is independent of one another.
z Additivity. The entropy value of multiple activities
can be derived from the sum of the entropy value
of individual activity.
B. Maintenance support system structure entropy
On the basis of analysis of maintenance support
organization, structure entropy means variation of
organizational structure state. Maintenance support
organization is composed of several maintenance support
stations and each station has different maintenance support
capability due to different resource allocations. Among
these stations, there exist the interaction of resources and
information, which contain vertical relationship and
horizontal relations. For example, a lower station will send
equipments or components which are out of its maintenance
capability to the parent station and the parent station will
send resources to a lower station. So the amount of
resources in a station is in a constant change. When
structure entropy is used for describing these changes,
resource input, resource output and the amount of resource
in the station should be taken down, as shown in Fig. 1.
Different resources need to be considered in a different way.
The following work analyzes a maintenance support station
to calculate the structure entropy.
Figure 1. Resources flow among maintenance support stations
Faulty equipment is being repaired in maintenance
support station n, and the maintenance support system stays
in the k-1 state before the k-times maintenance action. After
the k-times action is begun, it is necessary to record the
resource input, resource output among stations and the
amount of resource under k-1 state. With these data, the
structure entropy can be obtained in this station at k-times
maintenance action, which is shown as in (1):
pink qink α ni1 ΔZ nij
k k
qout
E kjgn = −a1 ¦ β nj1 ¦ in
+ b1 ¦
resource
j =1 i =1 Z nik −1 i =1
In the equation, k means the k-times maintenance action
in station n; a1 means coefficient of resource input; b1
means coefficient of resource output; α ni1 means coefficient
of i-kinds resource; β nj1 means coefficient of station j; pink
means the amount of station which input resource to station
n at k-times maintenance action; qink means the amount of
resource category which input resource to station n at k-
k
times maintenance action. qout means the amount of
resource category which station n output; Z nik −1 means the
amount of i-kinds resource in station n under k-1 state;
ΔZ nij
k
means the amount of i-kinds resource which station
in
j input at k-times maintenance action; ΔZ nij
k
means the
out
amount of i-kinds resource which station n output at k-
times maintenance action. The coefficient represents the
influence to structure entropy, which can be obtained by
considering the importance of resource.
Because the change of maintenance support system
state is related with resources, time and cost, it is necessary
for considering time and cost to calculate the structure
value. However, it merely points out structure entropy for
resource change in (1) and integrated structure entropy is
shown in (2):
E kjgn = ª E kjgn , E kjgn , E kjgn º (2)
¬ resource time cos t ¼
C. Maintenance support system operational entropy
On the basis of analysis of the maintenance support
process, operational entropy means variation of the support
process state. Maintenance support process is a set of
maintenance support actions, and the faulty equipment
configuration will be changed from one to another until it
fulfils the regulated requirements, which is shown as Fig. 2.
The change of equipment configuration is at the cost of
occupation and consumption of resources, which will have
an irreversible impact on the maintenance support system.
On the basis of resource features, it can be divided into two
types and they are occupation resource and consumption
resources. The former is measured by time and the longer it
used, the higher the amount of entropy. The latter is
measured by amount and the more it consumed, the higher
the amount of entropy. When operational entropy is used
for describing these changes, the operational time of
occupation resource and the amount of consumption
resource in the station should be taken down. The following
work analyzes maintenance support process to calculate the
operational entropy.
α ni1 ΔZ nik
out
(1)
Z nik −1
Figure 2. Equipment configuration in a maintenance support process
Faulty equipment is being repaired in the maintenance
support station n, and maintenance support system stays in
the k-1 state before the k-times maintenance action. After
the k-times action is begun, it is necessary to record the
844
operational time of occupation resource, uptime, downtime When environmental entropy is used for describing these
resource, the operation amount of consumption resource changes, the corrective maintenance frequency, preventive
and the amount of resource under k-1 state. With these data, maintenance frequency and the amount of resources input
the operational entropy can be obtained in this station at k- should be taken down. The following work analyzes
times maintenance action, which is shown as in (3): environment to calculate the environmental entropy.
Faulty equipment is being repaired in the maintenance
k
pocc ε ni Δt k k
pcon δ ni ΔZ k support station n, and maintenance support system stays in
= a2 ¦ + b2 ¦
ni occ ni con
k
E yxn 2 k −1 2 k −1 k −1
(3) the k-1 state before the k-times maintenance action. If the
resource
i =1 α t
ni nupi +β t ni ndowni i =1 Z ni number of faulty equipment is one, it means that the
operational entropy of every maintenance action appears
In the equation, a2 means coefficient of occupation only once and the environmental entropy is equal to
operational entropy. However, if the number of fault
resource; b2 means coefficient of consumption resource; equipment is more than one, it means that the operational
ε ni means coefficient of i-kinds occupation resource; δ ni entropy of every maintenance action appears n times and
means coefficient of i-kinds consumption resource; α ni2 the environmental entropy is more than operational entropy,
which is shown as in (5):
means coefficient of uptime; β ni2 means coefficient of
k
downtime; pocc means the amount of occupation resources
­ 1× E yxn
k
,1 1
k
at k-times maintenance action; pcon means the amount of °
k
Ehjn = Ehjn
k
=®
resource
(5)
°̄n × E yxn 1!
resource fault k
consumption resources at k-times maintenance action; Δtik resource
means the operational time of i-kinds occupation resource;
k −1
tupi means the uptime of i-kinds occupation resource under In the equation, N means the number of faulty
k −1 equipment which is equal to corrective maintenance
k-1 state ; t downi means the downtime of i-kinds occupation frequency. As an important factor of environment, support
resource under k-1 state; ΔZ ik means the operation resources input could affect the amount of resources in a
con
station. For example, if support resources input is the only
amount of consumption resource. The coefficient represents change at k-times maintenance action, then the
the influence to operational entropy, which can be obtained environmental entropy could be obtained, which is shown
by considering the importance of resource. as in (6):
Because the change of maintenance support process
state is related with resources, time and cost, it is necessary
for considering time and cost to calculate the operational
k
pinput γ ni ΔZ nik
=E = ¦ (6)
k k input
value. However, it merely points out operational entropy E hjn resource hjn k −1
input
i =1 Z ni
for resource change in (3) and integrated operational
entropy is shown in (4):
k
In this equation, pinput means the amount of resource
category; γ ni means coefficient of i-kinds resource;
E kjgn = ª E kjgn , E kjgn , E kjgn º (4)
¬ resource time cos t ¼ ΔZ nik means the input of i-kinds resource at k-times
input

maintenance action in station n. The coefficient represents

D. Maintenance support system environmental entropy the influence to environmental entropy, which can be
On the basis of analysis of environment, environmental obtained by considering the importance of resource.
entropy means variation of environment. As an important
When corrective maintenance frequency along with
influence factor, factors considered in this paper are
support resource input affect the maintenance support
corrective maintenance frequency, preventive maintenance k
frequency and support resource input. These factors have system, the environment is contained by Ehjn and
fault
different impact on the maintenance support system. k
Corrective maintenance frequency and preventive Ehjn , which is shown as in (7):
input
maintenance frequency belong to negative influence, which
will change the number of activities of maintenance support
action. Support resource input belongs to positive influence, k
Ehjn = a3 Ehjn
k
+ b3 Ehjn
k
(7)
resource fault input
which will change the amount of resources in station. The
similarity between them is that both of them could affect
the maintenance support system state, so environmental
entropy can be used for describing environment change.

845
 In this equation, a3 means coefficient of corrective The relationship between structure entropy and
maintenance frequency; b3 means coefficient of support environmental entropy can be obtained by analyzing the
change of resource in a station and it is shown as in (11):
resource input.
Because the change of environment is related with
resources, time and cost, it is necessary for considering k
pinput γ i ΔZ ik
= −¦ (11)
k input
time and cost to calculate the operational value. However, it E hjn input pink qink k
pout k
qout
+ ¦¦ ΔZ − ¦¦ ΔZ
merely points out operational entropy for resource change i =1 k −1 k k
Z ni ij in ij out
in (7) and integrated operational entropy is shown in (8): j =1 i =1 j =1 i =1

If the equation is divided by Z nik −1 , the relationship

k
Ehjn = [ Ehjn
k k
, Ehjn k
, Ehjn ] (8)
resource time cos t between structure entropy and environmental entropy can
be simplified, which is shown as in (12):
IV. MAINTENANCE SUPPORT SYSTEM ENTROPY
MODEL k
pinput γ i ΔZ ik / Z nik −1
= ¦
input
E k
hjn input (12)
A. The relationship among structure entropy, operational i =1 1 + E kjgn
resource
entropy and environmental entropy
There are complex relationships among structure
entropy, operational entropy and environmental entropy. B. Maintenance support system three-dimensional
Based on the above content, the equations for calculating entropy model
three entropies are obtained through independent study of The relationship among structure entropy, operational
them, but it could not be used for establishing the entropy and environmental entropy is the basis of
maintenance support system entropy model because of the maintenance support system entropy model. So the first
lack of relationship among them. The following work is to work is to decouple the relationship before obtaining the
analyze the relationship among them. three-dimensional model. The entropy model is established
The relationship between structure entropy and and the relationship can be reflected in this model, which is
operational entropy could be described by the following shown as (13):
two aspects. One aspect is that a support station will apply
to other stations for resource. The other aspect is that a
parent station will send resources to lower station. Both of ªEkjgn ' º ª A B1×3 C1×3 º
« k ' » « 1×3 » k T
them affect the resources flow. If station n proposes «E yxn » = « D1×3 E1×3 F1×3 » ª¬E jgn Ekyxn E khjn º¼ (13)
application for resources, the relationship between structure « k '» «
H1×3 I1×3 »¼
¬«Ehjn ¼» ¬ 1×3
entropy and operational entropy is shown as (9): G

In this equation, array A1×3 - I1×3 mean the relationship

­ m pink qink α ΔZ
1 k

°−¦ a1 ¦ β 1j ¦
i lij app among maintenance support system, and the relationship
,m ≥1
E kjgn = ® l =1 j =1 i =1 Z k −1 (9) does not only contain the relationship among resource, time
resource ni
° and cost, but also the relationship among the structure
¯0 ,m = 0 entropy, operational entropy and environmental entropy.
With the three-dimensional entropy, maintenance support
In this equation, m means the amount of application; system state can be described and the assessment of
ΔZ lijk means the amount of i-kinds resource. When the maintenance support system is based on its entropy. The
app
more the entropy changes, the faster resource flows.
station n does not output resources and m is equal to 1, it
is obvious that the structure entropy is equal to its
V. CASE STUDY
structure entropy.
In order to verify the feasibility of this method, this
The relationship between operational entropy and paper selects an easy case to calculate the maintenance
environmental entropy can be obtained form (7) and it is support system entropy. In an organizational-level station,
shown as in (10): there are many resources which are listed in Table 1. There
are five configurations during the maintenance process,
which are fault localization, disassembly, replacement,
k
Ehjn − b3 Ehjn
k
adjustment and install. There are resource flows among
=
resource input
E k
(10) stations and environmental factors, which are listed in
n × a3
yxn resource

846
Table 1. On the basis of equation above in article, the value
of structure entropy, operational entropy and environmental
entropy are solved, which are recorded in the Table 1. In
TABLE I. THE RESOURCES ALLOCATION AND ENTROPY VALUE
From the result of Table 1, the maintenance support
system entropy of plan 1 maintenance process. With the research work, the paper
is E one = [ 0.755635 −2.1333 1.6786] , and the entropy
T
of plan 2 is E two = [ 0.77686 −0.15 1.2423] . From the
T
value of entropy, the operational entropy between plan 1
and plan 2 is close, and the others are much different. Due
to the structure entropy of plan 1 is negative and the
absolute entropy value of plan 1 is much larger than plan 2,
which means that the movement of resources of plan 2 is
more frequently than plan 1. So the plan 2 is better than
plan 1.
VI. CONCLUSION
From the definition of maintenance support system
entropy, the larger a maintenance support system state
changes, the faster the entropy increases. When the time
and cost of maintenance support system is determinate, the
value of entropy could support the decisions about
maintenance support system. The system in which entropy
increases slowly has practical significance, because it will
847
this case, the influence of time and cost are not considered
and all of coefficients are constant which is equal to one.
consume, occupy or circulate fewer resources during the
proposes a new parameter for evaluating maintenance
support plan, which will help decision-makers select the
best maintenance support concept. However, the
inadequacy of this paper is that time and cost are not
considered in the maintenance support system entropy,
which is the focus of future work.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors kindly acknowledge Wang Lichao and his
advices on relationship among entropies in maintenance
support system.
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