Operational DMD temperature and landed duty cycle interact to affect the usable life of the DMD. This interaction can be used to reduce the impact that an asymmetrical landed duty cycle has on the useable life of the DMD. Figure 6-1 describes this relationship. The importance of this curve is that:

• All points along this curve represent the same usable life.
• All points above this curve represent lower usable life (and the further away from the curve, the lower the usable life).
• All points below this curve represent higher usable life (and the further away from the curve, the higher the usable life).

In practice, this curve specifies the maximum operating DMD temperature that the DMD should be operated at for a give long-term average landed duty cycle.