Designing large screen overview displays for nuclear power plant control rooms

Transcription

1 Designing large screen overview displays for nuclear power plant control rooms Jari Laarni, Leena Norros, Leena Salo, Hanna Koskinen Paula Savioja, Iina Aaltonen, Marja Liinasuo Human Activity and Systems Usability Team With special thanks to Ville Nurmilaukas, Fortum Alf Ove Braseth, IFE 1

2 Outline of the presentation Digitalization of HSIs Large screen displays in nuclear power plant control rooms Designing large screen displays for NPP CRs Presentation of information on LSDs: Evaluation of the Fortum IRD pilot Affordance based design of NPP control rooms 2

3 Digitalization of HSIs 3

4 History and future of HSIs in nuclear field DESKTOP BASED CONVENTIONAL ANALOGUE SMART 4

5 CLAIM In addition to interface management tasks, also operators' primary tasks may be affected > Concept of Operations will change 5

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7 Prospects of digitalized, desktop based CR All task related information can be easily integrated Information can be tailored to the needs of the operators Decision support logic can be developed to help decision making User interfaces can be accessed where ever they are needed Some tasks can be automated to reduce workload (O'Hara et al., 2003; Salo et al., in press) 7

8 Challenges of digitalized, desktop based CR Increased separation from the process Reduced team situation awareness, inhibition of communication, reduction of collaboration Reduced tactile feedback Keyhole effect Increase of secondary task demands It is difficult to operate the valves with these buttons At the old control room I saw at a glance, when entering the room, what the state of the plant is. Now, at the digital control room it is impossible Earlier you saw from the operator's position in the room what he was doing You easily click with the mouse the wrong valve icon (O'Hara et al., 2003; Salo et al., in press) 8

9 Drawback: keyhole effect 9

10 Drawback: reduced situation awareness WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT? 10

11 Drawback: reduced team situation awareness WHAT DO WE KNOW? 11

12 SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM: Provide overview information 12

13 OVERVIEW = General description, outline of something 13

14 Solution: large screen overview display 14

15 Large screen displays in nuclear power plant control rooms 15

16 Definition LSDs are large scale, wide angle, projected or tiled displays providing users shared visual information on the status of the system 16

17 when a display exceeds a certain size, it becomes qualitatively different. (Swaminathan & Sato, 1997) "Do not think a large display as merely a large desktop monitor, instead focus on the properties of the entire space." (Khan ym., 2005) 17

18 Classification of LSDs Display quality Medium and high quality 2 D displays 3 D displays Display location Distant contiguous displays Desktop contiguous displays Peripheral displays Interaction type Displays aimed only for viewing purposes Interactive displays Integrated systems 18

19 Application areas Apply well to the following purposes It is difficult to get an overview of the state of system Presentation of information for groups of users Users have to move and view the display from different parts of the room Several users have to get access to a particular piece of information at the same time Users have to coordinate their actions and/or to work together Apply well to digital NPP CRs 19

20 Usage practices based on earlier studies One display is chosen for a main display Often the nearest display or the display at the centre is chosen for this Part of the screen area is not viewed Typically, this area is at the top of the screen > Efficiency of LSDs is quite poor Fluent usage of LSDs requires learning 20

21 Benefits of LSDs Image covers a larger part of the retina > Provides a common reference point > Supports co operation In principle, more information can be presented > State of the process can be outlined with a single glance > Helps users to be aware of where they are in an information space 21

22 Challenges General Efficiency is poor LSD system design is demanding Technical problems Image may be distorted for many reasons Usability problems Difficult to arrange them optimally Common use of desktop screens and LSDs is challenging Problems in finding information from the LSD Management of windows may be difficult Fluent usage of interactive displays is demanding 22

23 Designing large screen displays for NPP CRs 23

24 Main themes Role of large screen displays (why large screen?) Control room layout Generate a design solution for the use of large screen displays in the main control room (layout of the control room, arrangement of workstations in the control room) Information content in different plant states (what is presented?) Properties of the user interface (how is presented?) Usage practices of large screen displays Content managament of large screen displays Generate a design solution for the information content of large screen displays and the way the information is presented on them (graphical presentation of large screen displays in the main control room) 24

25 Design workshops: Results Layout Innovative new design solutions were generated 25

26 Design workshops results: Requirements for LSDs Ideal LSDs should be some kind of synthesis of panels and process computer displays LSDs should serve all the operators in all the possible plant states But LSDs have a different function for different operators Different information systems should discuss with each other LSDs should provide all the essential information operators need Operators should have an opportunity to manage their own set of LSDs if needed Some of the large screens should have a fixed content Content of the main screens should be automatically updated For each plant state there should be large screens that are dedicated to this particular plant state LSDs should help operators to assess what other operators are doing Operating windows should be displayed on the LSD when the operator is operating a particular device 26

27 General framework for the LSD concept Main functions of the LSD in the CR 1) Provide an overview of the state of the power process 2) Support situation awareness 3) Provide support for the rapid detection of failures and stabilization of the process 4) Support operators' co operation, collaboration and coordination of activities 27

28 Outline of the LSD concept 28

29 LSD concept: Usage practices Major factors affecting the usage practices of LSDs Division of responsibility Interactivity Integrability Co operativity Division of Responsibility Integrability centralized decentralized independent part of a whole Interactivity Co operativity interactive non interactive one user group of users manual automatic transparent non transparent 29

30 LSD concept: Information Content Major factors affecting the information content of LSDs Level of abstractness Extent of description Level of structuralness Level of dynamicism Extent of target group Level of customization Uniformity Level of Dynamicism Level of Abstractness dynamic static Extent of Target Group detailed abstract one user group of users Extent of Description Level of Customization selectively comprehensively copied customized Level of Structuralness Uniformity structural non structural uniform non uniform 30

31 Intermediate conclusions LSDs have four key functions at the NPP CR LSD concept should answer to two types of questions: 1) By which way LSDs are used in different plant states 2) How information is presented on the large screen display Role, usage practices and content of large screens depend on the state of the plan Responsibility of the management of LSDs should be shared LSDs should be well integrated with other information systems of the plant There were different views of the preferable abstraction level of information on LSDs Content of large screens should be carefully designed and customized to support operators specific needs and requirements 31

32 Presentation of information on LSDs: Evaluation of the Fortum IRD pilot 32

33 Aim of the development of Fortum IRD pilot Aim is to design displays that Provide overview information Support early detection of failures and disturbances Help to diagnose problems and stabilize the process (Laarni et al., Proceedings of NPIC&HMIT 2009, in press; Braseth et al., Proceedings of NPIC&HMIT2009, in press) 33

34 Key design features (1) Display normalization Normalized trends: Unnormalized trends: "Information richness" Normalized trend including information of valve position: (Braseth, 2008) 34

35 Key design features (2) Dull screen principle Saturated colours used: Low saturated colours used: (Braseth & Nurmilaukas, 2008) 35

36 Development of Fortum IRD pilot Stages of the development process 1) Determination of goals 2) Kick off 3) Rapid prototyping based on several workshops 4) Specification of the design 5) Evaluation of the prototype system Observations Interviews Usability test (Braseth & Nurmilaukas, 2008) 36

37 Results of the evaluation: operator performance Failure detection time: Percentage of time looking at different info sources: Failure Detection Time (sec) 10 5 IRD Loviisa Percentage of Time IRD Loviisa 0 Scenario A Scenario Scenario B 10 0 LSD PMS Operator Other 37

38 Results of the evaluation: operators' comments Overall, the IRD displays were well received They are helpful in the detection of initial events Trends and graphs aggregate information in useful formats They help operators to maintain accurate situation awareness They can improve collaboration and co operation But Value of key IRD design features was somewhat questioned Their content should change according to the plant state They could be more interactive 38

39 Lessons learned Displays based on new design concepts are useful in visualising and highlighting certain aspects of the data BUT: they may obscure other essential data Agile design approach (ie rapid prototyping) worked well BUT: perhaps more systematic approach is needed for the development of HSIs for safety critical systems Large screen displays should not be designed separately without taking their interaction with other HSI elements and system level dynamics into account 39

40 Affordance based design of NPP control rooms 40

41 Affordance based design approach Information/Relationship Requirements: Defining What Content is Needed for Effective Decision Making Affordances in humanmachine interaction cycle: Representation Design Requirements: Defining Relationships Between Requirements and Visualization Concept Affordances between technical functions and users' tasks: Cognitive Work Requirements: Identifying the Cognitive Demands of the Problem Space Affordances in Abstraction Hierarchy: Functional Abstraction network: Modelling Critical domain relationships Presentation Design Concepts: Making the Problem Transparent (Elm et al., 2003; Koskinen et al., 2007) 41

42 Towards an affordance based CR 42

43 History and future of HSIs in nuclear field DESKTOP BASED CONVENTIONAL ANALOGUE SMART 43

44 Thank you for your attention! 44