AHP Based Evaluation Method for
Technology Readiness Level of DC-DC Converter
Jiaoying Huang*
School of Reliability and System Engineering
Beihang University
Beijing, China
huangjy@buaa.edu.cn
Xubo Lv*
School of Reliability and System Engineering
Beihang University
Beijing, China
lv_xubo@163.com
Cheng Gao*
School of Reliability and System Engineering
Beihang University
Beijing, China
gaocheng@buaa.edu.cn
Abstract—DC-DC converter is an electronic circuit that
converts a source of direct current (DC) from one voltage level to
another. It’s widely used because of its short design period and
high reliability. It is very important to evaluate technology
readiness level (TRL) of DC-DC converter accurately. In this
paper, Analytic hierarchy process
AHP
based evaluation
method is proposed to calculate TRL value of DC-DC converter.
A hierarchy model of objective remaining to be evaluated needs
to be developed in the beginning. The structure of model is
divided into three layers respectively called objective layer,
criteria layer and alterative layer. Objective layer consists of the
device itself and comprises several criterions such as technology,
material, design and manufacturing. The third layer includes all
concerning specific elements. Then, assign weight value for each
criterion and construct normalized pairwise comparison matrix.
Maximum eigenvalue and corresponding eigenvector is
calculated by mathematical method for further consistency
examination, which ensures the reliability of decision maker.
Finally, TRL of the device can be calculated as 0.93 according to
known TRL value of each element of it. The result shows that
TRL of DC-DC converter is more than 0.9, which means it is in
the condition of high maturity and is suitable for large-scale
application.
Keywords—DC-DC converter, TRL; Analytic hierarchy process;
pairwise comparison matrix; consistency
I. INTRODUCTION
DC-DC converter is a highly-integrated complex electronic
system contained with large number of electronic components
including integrated circuits, resistors, capacitors, transformers
and inductors [1,2]. Its performance is directly affected by
technology readiness level (TRL) of design technology,
packaging crafts, materials and components during its
production processes.
Reliability of DC-DC converter is mainly influenced by
application condition and environment [3]. In general, the
reasons that caused early failure of DC-DC converter mainly
consist of potential internal sub-circuit defect, incomplete
assembly or inappropriate operating behaviors. Inherent failure
life is determined by a few factors such as occasional over-
stress, inadequate design margin and lower cycle fatigue stress.
There are some other failure modes such as aging and
degeneration of electronic components or fatigue of
interconnection and solder joint.
TRL is an assessment for evaluating technology level of
DC-DC converter [4,5]. TRL means the maturity of technology
development. It indicates the level that technology has reached
to the extent of general availability in development process. It
is helpful for enterprise to standardize processes of product
design and manufacturing and to reduce risk of failure by
accurate evaluation of TRL [6]. As a result, method is required
to evaluate TRL of DC-DC converter comprehensively.
Key process areas (KPA) and Analytic hierarchy process
(AHP) are two of effective methods that is used to evaluate
TRL.
KPA comes from capability maturity assessment
framework which is developed by Carnegie Mellon University
for evaluating software capability maturity [7]. In practice,
goals that needed to reach certain technology readiness level
should be set when the level is determined. KPA is the
combination of these goals. KPA is a qualitative approach
which is simple and easy to operate [8]. However, as a
qualitative approach, the evaluation results often have poor
accuracy and its quality is totally determined by the goals.
AHP is a decision-making method which break the
elements associated with final decision into different layers
such as objective layer, criteria layer and alternative layer.
Systematic analysis then is carried out using mathematical
methods on analytic hierarchy [9,10,11]. AHP is a systematic
method that combine qualitative and quantitative means which
is simple and practical to make decisions, and does not require