Evaluation of interfaces for S&C of large technical systems

In the context of a research project with the aim of investigating the influence of human-machine interfaces on the error-proneness of situation assessment in technical systems by humans, extensive user experiments have been conducted. The paper reports influences of a pattern oriented display (the mass data display) as well as time oriented displays (trend graphs) on the classification of process states. All interfaces that have been investigated were based on P&I (piping and instrumentation) diagrams, a threshold oriented visualisation form, which is commonly used in simulation and control (S&C) of large technical systems. Comparing the different displays with each other a strategy of “adding and removing” was applied. Primarily, the features of investigated displays are introduced and discussed. Based on the features of displays the assumed performance of each display is shown. Finally, the assumed and measured performances are compared with each other. The results are discussed as well in a taxonomy context