Multigranulation fuzzy rough set over two universes and its application to decision making

Abstract

The original Pawlak’s rough set approach based on indiscernibility relation (single granularity) has been extended to multigranulation rough set structure in the recent years. Multigranulation rough set approach has become a flouring research direction in rough set theory. This paper considers rough approximation of a fuzzy concept under the framework of multigranulation over two different universes of discourse, i.e., multigranulation fuzzy rough set models over two universes. We present three types of multigranulation fuzzy rough set over two universes by the constructive approach, respectively. Some interesting properties of the proposed models are discussed and also the interrelationships between the proposed models and the existing rough set models are given. We then propose a new approach to a kind of multiple criteria group decision making problem based on multigranulation fuzzy rough set model over two universes. The decision rules and algorithm of the proposed method are given and an example of handling multiple criteria group decision making problem of clothes ranking illustrates this approach. The main contribution of this paper is twofold. One is to establish the multigranulation fuzzy rough set theory over two universes. Another is to try presenting a new approach to multiple criteria group decision making based on multigranulation fuzzy rough set over two universes. The proposed models not only enrich the theory of multigranulation rough set but also make a tentative to provide a new perspective for multiple criteria group decision making with uncertainty.