Pitman-Closeness Efficiency of Estimators of Reliability with Application to the Exponent/Al Failure Model

Abstract

**Please note that the full text is embargoed** ABSTRACT: When there are available several point estimators of component or system reliability, it would be of interest to compare such estimators through some "closeness to the true value of reliability" criteria. Along these lines, the concept of Pitman-closeness efficiency is introduced. Essentially, when comparing two estimators of reliability for a given situation, Pitman-closeness efficiency gives the odds in favor of one of the estimators being closer to the true value of reliability than is the other. Theory is developed which provides a straightforward way to evaluate this measure of efficiency under fairly general conditions on the estimators. Based on this methodology, a comparison is made of several estimators of reliability based on Type II censored data from the one-parameter exponential failure model. Key Words: Pitman-closeness efficiency; Reliability function; Exponential failure model; Comparison of estimators.