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fiXtress® — component derating and MTBF prediction software

Component derating, thermal estimation and MTBF prediction for single and multi-board electronic designs — system-level MTBF against temperature and environment.

Choosing fiXtress®

  • Who should evaluate fiXtress?: Reliability and electronics teams that need to connect component operating stress, temperature and environment to board or system MTBF. Evaluate fiXtress when a design review needs both derating findings and a reliability prediction. The software is deployed on premises.
  • What should you prepare?: A schematic/BOM export from Synthelyzer or an Excel input, component parameters, operating conditions and the required reliability method. Include the derating rules and temperature/environment assumptions your project uses.
  • What can you review?: Component derating and overstress reports, early thermal estimates, MTBF results and Pareto reports showing failure-rate contributors. Compare results under different temperature and environment assumptions.

Key Modules

  • Part Stress Analysis: System level component derating analysis including derating guidelines manager.
  • Library Editor: Elaborate components libraries for derating and MTBF prediction, including web access to millions of components.
  • MTBF Prediction: System level MTBF calculation supporting international standards.
  • Reports: Detailed Pareto reports identifying leading failure drivers.
  • Mini-Thermal Analysis: Estimate component temperature rise above ambient temperature before layout.

Key Features

  • Comprehensive electrical stress and derating analysis: Across all system assemblies, accounting for product operational profile.
  • Realistic MTBF prediction: Under true electrical and thermal stresses, supporting industry standards.
  • Provide reliability data: Hand-off to FME(C)A, FTA, RBD, MTTR and logistics analyses in CARE® modules.
  • Mini-Thermal: Estimates average PCB temperature rise from IC/device dissipation for early component placement and derating.
  • Derating Graphs Manager: With ready-to-use standards and custom company-specific rules.
  • Seamless ECAD integration: BOM import via Synthelyzer® plug-ins for in-workflow analysis.
  • EOS violation detection: With Pareto, over-stress and over-design reports, plus actionable design recommendations.
  • Extensive component library: AI-assisted with auto-completed parameters and web access to millions of parts.
  • MTBF graphs: As a function of temperature and environment, including Pareto reports.

Advanced Analysis & Modeling

  • Environment & mission profiles: Aligned with reliability standards for stress and MTBF assumptions.
  • Detailed component derating: Accounting for temperature, operational stresses and specific derating guidelines per component type; complies with ECSS and other standards.
  • Service life: Calculate system service life for different confidence levels.

Predict MTBF with Confidence

  • Supports multiple industry standards for robust, realistic predictions:
  • MIL-HDBK-217F2 / G and VITA 51.1 addendum
  • FIDES 2009 and FIDES 2022 (updated failure rates, modern IC packages, X5R/X7R classes)
  • IEC 62380
  • Telcordia (Bellcore) SR-332 methodologies
  • HDBK GJB299 (China)
  • SN 29500 (Siemens)
  • HRD-5 (Handbook of Reliability Data)
  • NSWC (mechanical procedures)

Core Benefits

  • Design efficiency: Automate manual stress/derating tasks and reduce human error.
  • Cost & weight optimization: Flag over-designed components and suggest right-sized alternatives.
  • Enhanced reliability: Detect overstressed parts early to prevent field failures and rework.
  • System-wide insight: MTBF, life expectancy and critical component identification at a glance.
  • Faster development: Shorten the system MTBF verification process with actionable recommendations for improvement.
  • Comprehensive traceability: Analyses linked to schematic/BOM revisions for V&V.

How It Works

  • Data intake: Import schematic/BOM from ECAD via Synthelyzer®; map part parameters from the fiXtress® library.
  • Stress & mini-thermal: Compute electrical derating and estimate average PCB temperature rise using dissipation and thermal resistance.
  • Reliability prediction: Calculate MTBF with the selected standard(s), factoring in the actual electrical and thermal stresses.
  • Design feedback & traceability: Publish findings (violations, Pareto, recommendations) back to ECAD and feed CARE® analyses.

Integration with BQR's toolchain

  • Synthelyzer®: Extracts schematic/BOM from ECAD and assigns initial stresses.
  • CircuitHawk®: Precise circuit simulation.
  • CARE® Suite: Consolidates RAMS results (FME(C)A, FTA, RBD, MTTR) for system-level decision support.
  • Together, these tools provide a digital-twin reliability workflow from schematic to system safety and reliability.

Outputs & KPIs

  • Overstress flags with quantitative margins (%) and recommended corrective actions for each component.
  • Estimated assembly MTBF with a Pareto of top reliability contributors.
  • MTBF vs. temperature graphs for all environments and prediction methods.
  • Failure rate outputs for FMEA / FMECA, RBD and FTA.

Typical Use Cases

  • PDR / CDR design gate MTBF and derating sign-off.
  • Supplier / OEM design assurance.
  • Derating compliance preparation.
  • Basis for FMECA, spare parts and RBD calculations.

Questions for your fiXtress® evaluation

  • How does fiXtress differ from the free MTBF calculator?: The browser calculator provides MIL-HDBK-217F2 parts-count prediction for a BOM. fiXtress adds analysis of component operating stresses and derating, early thermal estimation, system-level work across boards and a wider set of prediction methods.
  • Which MTBF prediction method should the evaluation use?: Start with the method required by your customer or project. The documented fiXtress methods include MIL-HDBK-217, FIDES, IEC 62380 and Telcordia. Confirm the required edition, component coverage and report scope in the evaluation and quotation.
  • How do CircuitHawk and CARE fit into this workflow?: CircuitHawk provides circuit simulation and operating-stress results. fiXtress uses stress and component data for derating and MTBF prediction. CARE takes reliability and failure data into system-level FMECA, fault-tree and reliability-block-diagram analysis.