A Novel AHP-Based Benefit Evaluation Model of Military Simulation Training Systems

Kuei-Hu Chang,Yung-Chia Chang,Hsiang-Yu Chung

doi:10.1155/2015/956757

Abstract

With the constantly changing patterns of war, more technologically exquisite weapons are designed, increasing in cost and complexity. Training maneuvers with live ammunition are expensive and are prone to accidental casualties. Thus, many countries are gradually adopting simulation training systems to replace some actual exercises to reduce casualties and still maintain maximum combat readiness. However, each simulation training system has a different background with regard to time, source, function goal, and quality of environment and staff. It is also more difficult to assess the benefit of simulation training systems. Moreover, traditional benefit assessments of military simulation training systems have merely considered their efficiency, not safety, causing biased conclusions. To solve these issues, this paper integrates the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), important-performance analysis (IPA), and the 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic representation model to determine the benefits of simulation training systems. To verify the proposed approach, a numerical example of the evaluation of a training simulator system’s benefit is adopted. Compared with the traditional AHP method, the proposed method does not lose any valuable information that is provided by experts and also considers training safety. Further, these data are presented in 2-dimensional graphs for managers to further guide the decision-making process.

Highlights

The price of weapons and equipment has risen substantially, and human lives are taken into account during training
This study proposed an integrated analytic hierarchy process (AHP), important-performance analysis (IPA), and 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic representation method to evaluate 10 current training simulators for their capability and efficiency
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a numerical verification of a case study was performed in Section 4.3, which compared the experimental results with the traditional AHP method

Summary

Introduction

The price of weapons and equipment has risen substantially, and human lives are taken into account during training. This has caused training simulators and modelbased simulation systems to be adopted gradually instead of actual soldiers for training purposes. Simulation training reduces training costs, and lowers casualty rates and leads to higher success rates. There are several advantages of training simulators, such as reduced casualty rates and training expenses, ability to operate independently of weather, and lower equipment loss, and they allow soldiers to learn self-control, increase their willingness to learn and fully understand battlefield conditions, and improve training efficiency. Decreasing training costs and maximizing their benefit with limited resources have become critical issues for decision-maker; but, some aspects, such as the time of simulator installation, simulator function, simulator lifecycle, and purpose of training, must be considered with qualitative and quantitative data

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion