Abstract
The customer for a vehicle typically has several desiderata, such as top speed, fuel economy, range, acceleration, .... Generally, these desiderata are conflicting. So, in order to deduce a single objective function, a means is needed for weighting (implicitly if not explicitly) the relative importance of these desiderata. That is, for weighting these “multiple objectives.” This paper presents a rational methodology for developing a single-objective function to be optimized during the design of a vehicle. The methodology does require answers from the customer(s) to a straightforward set of questions, referring to the desiderata. Based on the answers, the objective function follows, mathematically, in a straightforward manner. An application to a light, personal aircraft serves as a case study.
