An MCDM-integrated maximum coverage approach for positioning of military surveillance systems

Abstract

We study a surveillance system positioning problem within a national security project in Turkey. Urban areas throughout the country need to be monitored against probable attacks, and we propose set covering approaches to the problem. Working with a representative pilot area, we first find the minimum-cost solution that covers all demand points. We then calculate the criticality weights of these demand points by analytic hierarchy process. In the presence of constraints on the budget use and the number of surveillance systems used, we maximise weighted coverage. We also generate efficient solutions with the criteria of weighted coverage and budget use, and also weighted coverage and number of surveillance systems used. Moreover, we carry out sensitivity analysis on the weights used for demand points, and observe that the results are quite robust to weight changes.

Keywords:

• Surveillance systems
• set covering
• maximum coverage
• multi-criteria
• AHP