An intermittently used n-unit complex system

In this paper we study an n-unit warm standby system which is needed intermittently with need and no-need periods occurring alternately. The life time of a unit while online and duration of a no-need period are generally distributed random variables while all the others are exponentially distributed. Identifying certain regeneration points, we obtain an expression for the distribution function of the time to the first disappointment. © 1982.