Inference for the Rayleigh Distribution Based on Progressive Type-II Fuzzy Censored Data

Classical statistical analysis of the Rayleigh distribution deals with precise information. However, in real world situations, experimental performance results cannot always be recorded or measured precisely, but each observable event may only be identified with a fuzzy subset of the sample space. Therefore, the conventional procedures used for estimating the Rayleigh distribution parameter will need to be adapted to the new situation. This article discusses different estimation methods for the parameters of the Rayleigh distribution on the basis of a progressively type-II censoring scheme when the available observations are described by means of fuzzy information. They include the maximum likelihood estimation, highest posterior density estimation and method of moments. The estimation procedures are discussed in detail and compared via Monte Carlo simulations in terms of their average biases and mean squared errors. Finally, one real data set is analyzed for illustrative purposes.