| 1. | Activate the RBD window. |
| 2. | Choose MTBCF from the Calculation menu; the MTBCF For RBD dialog box opens: |
| 3. | In the list box, select one of the following: |
| • | Max Time and enter the time after which the tail of function R(t) is cut off. |
| • | Epsilon and enter the cutoff value for the function R(t) where delta becomes less than epsilon (R(Tn)-R(tn-1) < epsilon). |
to calculate MTBCF for a non-continuous mission, and enter the mission time. MTBCF in this case is calculated by formula 
, where To is Mission Time.
| 4. | In the Step field, enter the integration step. (Start with 10% of the Max Time and then reduce it after each calculation to the point where MTBCF shows no significant change.) Larger Max Time, smaller epsilon, and smaller integration steps lead to better results yet longer computation times. |
| 5. | Choose Calculate. RAM Commander displays the MTBCF and R(t) graph: |
| 6. | Choose Print to print out the graph generated, choose "Export" to save graph as Windows Metafile. You may open it from the MS Word later. |
| 7. | Repeat steps 3–5 to review different graphs for different field settings. |
The general rule is to start with the Max. time which is about 10 times of the expected MTBF and the Step 100 times less than the Max .time. Then you just match the Max. time and Step. When after some tries you get necessary Max.Time, you may reduce the Step to get more accuracy.
To generate RBD reports, follow the procedure in the next section.
