Normalization techniques for multi-criteria decision making: Analytical hierarchy process case study

Abstract

Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods use normalization techniques to allow aggregation of criteria with numerical and comparable data. With the advent of Cyber Physical Systems, where big data is collected from heterogeneous sensors and other data sources, finding a suitable normalization technique is also a challenge to enable data fusion (integration). Therefore, data fusion and aggregation of criteria are similar processes of combining values either from criteria or from sensors to obtain a common score. In this study, our aim is to discuss metrics for assessing which are the most appropriate normalization techniques in decision problems, specifically for the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) multi-criteria method. AHP uses a pairwise approach to evaluate the alternatives regarding a set of criteria and then fuses (aggregation) the evaluations to determine the final ratings (scores).