Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering
 |
|
| Abbreviation | CALCE |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1985 |
| Purpose | Provide a knowledge and resource base for development and sustainment of competitive electronic products and systems |
| Headquarters | College Park, Maryland |
| Location | |
|
Region served
|
Worldwide |
|
Director
|
Prof. Michael Pecht |
|
Staff
|
75 |
| Website | www.calce.umd.edu |
The Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering (CALCE) is a university research facility focused on risk assessment, management, and mitigation for electronic products and systems. CALCE is the largest electronic products and systems research center focused on electronics reliability and is dedicated to providing a knowledge and resource base to support the development of competitive electronic components, products, and systems. CALCE is located at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, and was founded by Professor Michael Pecht.
CALCE was created in 1985 with support from the United States National Science Foundation as a University Industry Cooperative Research Center. Since that time, CALCE has made significant contributions in the following areas:
CALCE has been a leader in the development of a number of IEEE, JEDEC, GEIA, and IEC Standards. CALCE publications have also influenced a number of crucial industry standards, including:
In the field of reliability analysis and qualification, CALCE processes and models have become standardized for physics-of-failure (PoF) based analyses of electronic systems. CALCE’s achievements in reliability analysis and qualification include the concept of organizational reliability as the measure of the effectiveness of an organization’s reliability program in terms of meeting customer requirements.
A range of industries, including aerospace, automotive, household, industrial, medical, and telecommunication, actively use CALCE Simulation Assisted Reliability Assessment (SARA) software and accelerated testing approaches. Among organizations applying CALCE methods, the U.S. Army leads the way, creating and maintaining a PoF analysis group that uses calceSARA software and techniques to assess electronic designs for U.S. DoD programs. In one example application, analysis results from the calceSARA software were used to save $27 million in sustainment costs. NASA also applies CALCE PoF models in planning manned missions to the moon and Mars. International corporations such as Boeing, Daimler, General Electric, General Motors, and Vestas use CALCE PoF models to incorporate power electronic modules into products such as aircraft and hybrid vehicles.
CALCE is at the forefront of research in Prognostics and Health Management (PHM). CALCE formed the first collaborative research effort to address PHM applications. Through the work of their PHM Consortium, CALCE has developed a new paradigm for reliability prediction based on prognostics whereby sensor data is integrated into models that enable in-situ assessment of the deviation of a product from its expected normal operating condition. Additionally, CALCE has developed a prognostics roadmap that will be included in the ITRI semiconductor roadmap. In the field of Electronic Part Supply Chain Management, CALCE is the preeminent technical organization for thermal up-rating, counterfeit electronic part management, and electronic part obsolescence forecasting and management. CALCE developed the concept of up-rating, a process that mitigates the risk associated with using semiconductor devices outside manufacturer specifications. CALCE also developed the first quantitative analysis of lifetime buy sizes for electronic parts, which has allowed electronics integrators to reduce their stock inventories and save money.
...
Wikipedia