Multi-index optimization design for electrical resistance tomography sensor

A multiple index optimization method for ERT sensors is put forward which combines an orthogonal design and fuzzy analysis. This method first establishes a scientific and proper fuzzy evaluation method using fuzzy mathematics to define ERT index satisfaction (ERTIS) and overall ERT index satisfaction (OERTIS) and to construct their satisfaction functions. It unifies all of ERT sensor indices into a single comparable satisfaction value. Then, the OERTIS analysis is developed which allows a set of multiple index orthogonal experiments to be transferred into a single index orthogonal experiment. Where, the uniformity index and the correlation coefficient index of the ERT sensor are set as the optimization objectives. The experiments are set up based on multi-index orthogonal design. The experimental results indicate that the method can derive an evenly distributed sensitivity field and a better image with the optimized sensors, and improve the OERTIS of the ERT sensors by 13.75%.