AE 424 Aerospace Systems Engineering Assignment #4 Solution

Problem For a design competition mission involving delivery of a given package from one place to another, a student team decided to use an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to do the job. They have decided the mission scope, concept operations, and mission requirements. Now they need to figure out how to get the UAV they need. As usual, their budge for the mission is very tight but they have up to two semesters to complete the project. They do not want to fail but they also want to maximize their learning opportunities. Further, the UAV is not the only part of the entire package delivery system. Now, they have to make a decision regarding how to obtain the UAV from the following four options (assuming all the four are feasible): 1) Option 1: Purchase an UAV. It is the easiest and fastest approach but costs over 90% of their budget and still cannot get the best choice regarding the features and performance. 2) Option 2: Find a contractor to design and build the UAV for them. It is an easy and fast approach and also can get the best UAV features and performance they like but it will cost nearly 100% of their budget. 3) Option 3: Students design the UAV first and then find a contractor to build it. This is a slow approach and they can get the best UAV features but it still costs 70% of their budget. Besides, students can learn from the design work. 4) Option 4: Student design and also build the UAV. This is the slowest approach and may not lead to a best quality product but students will spend least money and gain most experience. The decision will be made based on the following five attributes (figures of merit): Cost the total expenditure for obtaining the UAV Quality the quality, features and performance of the resulting UAV Time the total time required for delivering the UAV Work load the total work that the students have to do Experience the engineering experience that students can gain from the work You are asked to use the AHP method to evaluate the options and find the best option for the student team. To help your decision making, you have interviewed and discussed with the students, from which you confirmed the following: The result of the pairwise-comparison of the five attributes Cost is mildly less important than the quality (scored 1/3) Cost is much more important than time (scored 9) Cost is more important than work load (scored 8) Cost is less important than experience (1/6) Quality is more important than time (6) Quality is more important than work load (5) Quality is slightly less important than experience (1/3) Time and work load have the same importance (1) Time is certainly less important than experience (1/9) Work load is less important than experience (1/5)

The results of the pairwise-comparison of the four options against each attribute: Purchase costs less than completely contracted out the work (scored 4) Purchase costs the same as student design and contractor build (scored 1) Purchase costs much more than student design and build (scored 1/7) Contract all costs more than student design and contractor build (1/5) Contract all costs much more than student design and build (1/9) Student design and contractor build costs more than student design and build (1/4) Purchase has slightly less quality than contractor design and build (scored 1/3) Purchase has the same quality as student design and contractor build (scored 1) Purchase has much better quality than student design and build (scored 8) Contract all has better quality than student design and contractor build (5) Contract all has much better quality than student design and build (9) Student design and contractor build has better quality than student design and build (5) Purchase is faster than contractor design and build (scored 4) Purchase is much faster than student design and contractor build (scored 7) Purchase is extremely faster than student design and build (9) Contract all is faster than student design and contractor build (5) Contract all is much faster than student design and build (7) Student design and contractor build is faster than student design and build (5) Purchase requires less work than contract all (scored 3) Purchase requires much less work than student design and contractor build (scored 6) Purchase requires extremely less work than student design and build (9) Contract all requires less work than student design and contractor build (4) Contract all requires much less work than student design and build (7) Student design and contractor build requires less work than student design and build (5) Purchase gains less experience than contract all (scored 1/3) Purchase gains much less experience than student design and contractor build (1/6) Purchase gains extremely less experience than student design and build (1/9) Contract all gains less experience than student design and contractor build (1/5) Contract all gains much less experience than student design and build (1/9) Student design and contractor build gain less experience than student design and build (1/5) Note: you solution must include: 1. the prioritization matrix for comparing the five attributes; 2. the five matrices comparing the options against each of the five attributes; 3. the overall weighed scores for the four options. Since different references may give slightly different formulae of calculating the scores in the AHP process, you should use the formulae described in the class notes. Discuss how the result from the AHP method compares to your own decision just out of your own thinking?

Solution We construct the prioritization matrix based on the following comparisons Cost is mildly less important than the quality (scored 1/3) Cost is much more important than time (scored 9) Cost is more important than work load (scored 8) Cost is less important than experience (1/6) Quality is more important than time (6) Quality is more important than work load (5) Quality is slightly less important than experience (1/3) Time and work load have the same importance (1) Time is certainly less important than experience (1/9) Work load is less important than experience (1/5)
Prioritization matrix Cost Quality Time Work load Experience Cost 1 3 1/9 1/8 6 Quality 1/3 1 1/6 1/5 3 Time 9 6 1 1 9 Work load 8 5 1 1 5 Experience 1/6 1/3 1/9 1/5 1

The pairwise comparisons of the four alternatives each attribute are as follows: For cost consideration Purchase costs less than completely contracted out the work (scored 4) Purchase costs the same as student design and contractor build (scored 1) Purchase costs much more than student design and build (scored 1/7) Contract all costs more than student design and contractor build (1/5) Contract all costs much more than student design and build (1/9) Student design and contractor build costs more than student design and build (1/4)
For cost Purchase Contract all Design + contract Design + Build Purchase 1 1/4 1 7 Contract all 4 1 5 9 Design + contract 1 1/5 1 4 Design + Build 1/7 1/9 1/4 1

For quality consideration Purchase has slightly less quality than contractor design and build (scored 1/3) Purchase has the same quality as student design and contractor build (scored 1) Purchase has much better quality than student design and build (scored 8) Contract all has better quality than student design and contractor build (5) Contract all has much better quality than student design and build (9) Student design and contractor build has better quality than student design and build (5)

For quality Purchase Contract all Design + contract Design + Build

Purchase 1 3 1 1/7

Contract all 1/3 1 1/5 1/9

Design + contract 1 5 1 1/5

Design + Build 7 9 5 1

For time consideration Purchase is faster than contractor design and build (scored 4) Purchase is much faster than student design and contractor build (scored 7) Purchase is extremely faster than student design and build (9) Contract all is faster than student design and contractor build (5) Contract all is much faster than student design and build (7) Student design and contractor build is faster than student design and build (5)
For time Purchase Contract all Design + contract Design + Build Purchase 1 1/4 1/7 1/9 Contract all 4 1 1/5 1/7 Design + contract 7 5 1 1/5 Design + Build 9 7 5 1

For work load consideration Purchase requires less work than contract all (scored 3) Purchase requires much less work than student design and contractor build (scored 6) Purchase requires extremely less work than student design and build (9) Contract all requires less work than student design and contractor build (4) Contract all requires much less work than student design and build (7) Student design and contractor build requires less work than student design and build (5)
For work load Purchase Contract all Design + contract Design + Build Purchase 1 1/3 1/6 1/9 Contract all 3 1 1/4 1/7 Design + contract 6 4 1 1/5 Design + Build 9 7 5 1

For experience consideration Purchase gains less experience than contract all (scored 1/3) Purchase gains much less experience than student design and contractor build (1/6) Purchase gains extremely less experience than student design and build (1/9) Contract all gains less experience than student design and contractor build (1/5) Contract all gains much less experience than student design and build (1/9) Student design and contractor build gain less experience than student design and build (1/5)
For experience Purchase Contract all Design + contract Design + Build

Purchase Contract all Design + contract Design + Build

1 3 6 9

1/3 1 5 9

1/6 1/5 1 5

1/9 1/9 1/5 1

Combining all the above pairwise analysis results, we can find the final scores of the four options in the following table:

From the AHP analysis result shown in the above table, we conclude that the student design and build option is the most preferred option.