Mission profiles (MP) describe all functional and environmental loads a set of components or complex systems have to sustain during production, storage, shipping, assembly and operation. Mission profiles therefore contain indispensable information when
- Assessing the maturity and robustness of manufacturing technologies
- Assessing the suitability of manufacturing technologies to build robust and reliable products
- Assessing the robustness and reliability of a product
- Designing, verifying and validating an individual product or a product class
The application of mission profiles is therefore fundamental to technology development, product robustness validation and reliability engineering.
The Mission Profile Format (MPFO) represents a XML based formal description of component specific mission profiles. The term component hereby comprises (1) individual and groups of mechanical, electronic, electromechanical components, such as ICs, SiPs or MEMS, and (2) complex systems, such as electronic control units (ECU), machines or even vehicles. While the format was initially developed for the design of automotive electronic components, its use is not limited to the automotive domain only.
The MPFO has been primarily developed within the German publicly-funded research project autoSWIFT (2015-2018).
An earlier version of the MPFO has been drafted in the German publicly-funded research project RESCAR (2011-2014).