Study on Protecting Critical Infrastructure Systems Based on the UTA Method

The critical infrastructure systems are the lifelines of cities, but they are unstable and vulnerable due to frequent emergencies. A good protection plan should consider multiple objectives such as resilience, cost, and etc., which often conflict with each other and thus make it difficult to make the final decision. This study explores the potentials and applicability of the UTA method, a multi-objective technique, under the context of protecting the critical infrastructure systems. The UTA model obtains preference information by interacting with decision makers and constructs the preference model of decision makers based on the principles of linear programming and value functions. The case study of the power grid system in C county indicates that the UTA method could help decision makers to achieve tradeoffs between multiple goals in the decision-making process and finally choose the plan that the decision makers are most satisfied with.