Method and apparatus for determining the failure probability of a data network

This application claims the priority of German application DE 199 29 943.9, filed in Germany on Jun. 29, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein. In a method for determining the failure probability of a data network which has at least one transmitter, a transmission medium, components which attenuate and/or amplify the power, and at least one receiver, the data network is subdivided into individual point-to-point connecting paths, and a failure probability is determined separately for each point-to-point connecting path. The total failure probability of the data network is determined as the sum of the individual probabilities of the individual point-to-point connecting paths, minus the probability that two or more point-to-point connecting paths will fail simultaneously.