Automated decision-making with TOPSIS for water analysis

Abstract

This paper aims to present a new application of TOPSIS with an automated decision-making process for the analysis of drinking water. For this purpose, the algorithm was modified with a fuzzy disjunction, and the maximal output values were set to one. The properties of drinking water, such as total dissolved solids, hardness, electrical conductivity, and cost, were the criteria analyzed in this study. These criteria were analyzed with unmodified and modified algorithms. Therefore, the modified TOPSIS was also used to optimize the parameters of the candidates. The appearance of the value of 1.0 in the algorithm’s output was due to the confusion of an individual’s categories of drinking water and undrinkable water. The advantage of this investigation was that, for the first time, it allowed automated decision-making to detect the drinking water in different samples and analyze them according to their characteristics. This would be important in developing new technologies for detecting and analyzing drinking water in the environment. The results of this paper can be applied in materials sciences and engineering.