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ABSTRACTS 

1987 NAFIPS Workshop 

A F u z z y  S e t - T h e o r e t i c  A p p r o a c h  t o  D e c i s i o n  M a k i n g  

S a l w a  A m m a r  

Quantitative Methods Department, School o f  Management, 
Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244 
In many complex decision situations the data available may not be sufficient to define a 
decision-making problem in an exact and objective form. The processing o f  such data 
involves approximating and subjectively assessing the information necessary to describe 
the decision situation. The ability to capture the vague nature o f  the information may be 
the key to solving an ill-defined problem. 

This paper presents quantitative models that accommodate the imprecision resulting 
from the vagueness and the subjectivity in the assessment o f  decision situations. The tools 
o f  quantification used to represent this imprecision are fuzzy set theory and operations. A 
new interpretation o f  the decision-making process in a fuzzy environment is motivated. 
Guidelines by which the " b e s t "  decision alternative can be determined are presented. 

I n t e g r a t i n g  E x p e r t  S y s t e m s  U s i n g  F u z z y  N u m b e r s  

M i c h a e l  J .  B a l d w i n  

VEDA, Inc., 1002 Black River Boulevard, Suite 1, Rome, 
New York 13440 
Real-time processing constraints o f  operational expert avionics systems are driving a 
trend to concurrent processing o f  several systems. This paper demonstrates an 
algorithmic technique to integrate expert systems where the systems are allowed to use 
fuzzy numbers as output. One approach to solving the integration problem is examined; 
each alternative is considered as a possible target, each j u d g e  as one o f  four expert 
planners, and each criterion as a consideration that is examined by at least one expert. 
The experts are allowed to use fuzzy numbers to quantify each target's suitability within 
each criterion. Four on-board experts are allowed to use fuzzy numbers because there is 
difficulty assigning specific real numbers to alternatives. The expert opinions are 
integrated in a manner that also considers the mission. Separate sets o f  criteria weights 
are used, where each set provides a " m i s s i o n  c o n t e x t "  under which the analyst operates. 
The result is a ranking o f  subsets o f  targets, starting with the most desirable. Other 
analysts operating in parallel provide support for other aircrew knowledge needs. This 
approach minimizes the information pipeline to the pilot and exploits the p o w e r  o f  
concurrent processing. G i v e n  sufficient computing power, the design is one possible 
method for providing real-time data analysis. 

International Journal of Approximate Reasoning 1988; 2:95-112 
© 1988 Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc. 
52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, NY 10017 0888-613X/88/$3.50 95