A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach for Equipment Evaluation Based on Cloud Model and VIKOR Method

Equipment evaluation stands as a critical task in both equipment system development and military operation planning. This task is often recognized as a complex multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. Adding to the intricacy is the uncertain nature inherent in military operations, leading to the introduction of fuzziness and randomness into the equipment evaluation problem, rendering it unsuitable for precise information. This paper addresses the uncertainty associated with equipment evaluation by proposing a novel MCDM method that combines the cloud model and the VIKOR method. To address the multifaceted nature of the equipment evaluation problem, a two-level hierarchical evaluation framework is constructed, which comprehensively considers both the capabilities and characteristics of the equipment system during the evaluation process. The cloud model is then employed to represent the uncertain evaluations provided by experts, and a similarity-based expert weight calculation approach is introduced for calculating expert weights, thereby determining the relative importance of different experts. Subsequently, the VIKOR method is extended by incorporating the cloud model to evaluate and rank various equipment systems, where the criteria weights for this evaluation are established using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). To demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method, a practical case study involving the evaluation of unmanned combat aerial vehicles is presented. The results obtained are validated through sensitivity analysis and comparative analysis, affirming the reliability and reasonability of the proposed method in providing equipment evaluation results. In summary, the proposed method offers a novel and effective approach for addressing equipment evaluation challenges under uncertainty.