Selecting a fuzzy aggregation operator for the multi-criteria fault location problem

Many problems in science and engineering fields involve decision-making. Usually these decision-making processes are based on several criteria that represent various experts' knowledge. Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), however, may not provide sharp boundaries to classify candidates as belonging to single categories. To solve problems with criteria without sharp boundaries, fuzzy logic is a good tool to deal with. Hence, fuzzy logic-based multi-criteria decision-making (FMCDM) is an effective tool. A new fault location method for radial distribution systems uses the FMCDM process to determine possibility values for each tine section in a distribution system. The possibility values represent the possibility of a fault being present on a particular line section. In the FMCDM process, fuzzy aggregation operators are needed to combine the multiple possibility values into an aggregated value. Often fuzzy aggregation operators are selected to solve these problems without considering information reflecting in the possibility values, and this information is related to the characteristic of the decision-making process. In this paper, the authors discuss a process for selecting aggregation operators to solve the multi-criteria fault location problem taking into account the characteristics of the decision-making process.