Multi-Criteria Decision Making Using TOPSIS Method: An Application in the Selection of Future Communication Solutions for Electrical Distribution Substations

The selection of future communication solutions for electrical distribution substations to satisfy future requirements, such as bidirectional communication, stringent data rate and bandwidth limitations while adhering to economic constraints, is a complicated and multi-faceted problem. Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) has been widely implemented in various fields to address problems involving both qualitative and quantitative criteria systematically and reliably. In this paper, the MCDM approach known as the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is adopted for the selection of communication technology solutions for electrical distribution substations in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Seven communication technologies, inclusive of both wired and wireless technologies, were evaluated in terms of their techno-economic performance. Three technical-to-economic ratio weightages were investigated, which were 70:30, 90:10, and 50:50. Finally, the technologies were ranked based on the MCDM TOPSIS method and the optimum communication solutions were obtained for each weight. The result shows that wired technologies outperform wireless technologies due to their superior technical score, despite their relatively low economic performance, especially if the technical criterion is given more weightage.