Analysis of interaction of multiple criteria with application to large-scale system planning and design

The design and planning of large-scale systems is concerned with the problem of selecting a specific system configuration which will "best" satisfy the needs and requirements of the user. Therefore, the large-scale system design process is ultimately a complex decision making process. The complexity evolves in large part from the need to assess system effectiveness through multiple criteria. The complexity is then further compounded when interaction exists among those decision criteria. This research has dealt with extending a system design methodology to include a structured procedure for facilitating analysis of interaction among the criteria. The improved design methodology is presented and a real world application involving six decision criteria is demonstrated. [...]