ME-OWA based DEMATEL reliability apportionment method

The maximal entropy ordered weighted averaging (ME-OWA)-based decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method for reliability allocation has been examined. The assessment results show that most conventional reliability allocation methods have five fundamental problems. The first problem is the measurement scale: while the second problem is that the system allocation factors are not equally weighted to one another, the third problem is that most reliability allocations methods often neglect many important features, such as maintainability and risk issues. The fourth problem is that they do not consider indirect relations between subsystems or components, and the fifth problem is that they do not consider predicted failure rate in the apportionment process. This study evaluated reliability allocation using a fighter aircraft's digital flight control computer (DFLCC). The proposed method offers several benefits compared with current military and commercial approaches. The computational results clearly demonstrate the advantages of the proposed approach for solving the five fundamental problems. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.