Dr. Benny Cheng, senior scientist at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Corona Division, was recently awarded the 2023 Best Paper of the Symposium Award at the 2024 Reliability and Maintainability Symposium (RAMS).

The Best Paper Award is presented annually to recognize the best written and most well-presented paper at the RAMS. Cheng and former NSWC Corona Engineer Michael Potter were selected as the winners for their 12-page article titled “Bayesian Weapon System Reliability Modeling with Cox-Weibull Neural Network.”

The winning article details an innovative method for the reliability assessment of weapon systems that combines the power of machine learning and Bayesian statistics, a field of statistics based on the application of probabilities.

“Dr. Cheng’s work plays a pivotal role in keeping missile reliability assessment at the cutting edge and ensures we are providing the foundation America’s warfighters need to preserve peace, respond in crisis, and win decisively in combat,” said Technical Director Dianne Costlow. “His dedication and commitment contribute to our Navy remaining the world’s preeminent maritime force.”

According to the RAMS website, the conference brings reliability experts from around the world together to collaborate and address topics like reliability, maintainability requirements and mission critical design.

“We wanted to publish our work and share the results of our research, showcasing a powerful technique that can improve reliability assessment of weapon systems,” said Cheng.

Cheng noted more than 100 papers were submitted for the RAMS award. He said receiving the award was unexpected and compared the achievement to winning a Nobel Prize for reliability.

Prior to working at NSWC Corona, Cheng served as a scientist with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, conducting research in spectral analysis and oceanography. Most of his current research activities are centered on reliability engineering.

"My primary job is to support the reliability assessment of weapon systems,” he said. “It took three years of hard work to develop this particular methodology, so receiving this award for our efforts is an honor. Our research from the paper is currently being applied to our reliability work with missiles, and we definitely plan to continue to develop and refine this method in the future.”

NSWC Corona Division has provided analysis and assessment for the Navy since 1964. With experience in gauging the Navy’s warfighting capability, NSWC Corona is a leader in NAVSEA data analytics. Corona utilizes networked data environments, data and visualization, and measurement technology to bridge the Navy’s data silos, enabling informed decision-making for the warfighter. Anchor to the Inland Empire Tech Bridge, NSWC Corona is located in Norco, California, with detachments in Fallbrook and Seal Beach and personnel in 14 additional locations.