A comparative simulation study of annunciator systems

Abstract

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the effects of information-presentation on task performance and operator ratings of associated difficulty. Twenty-four trainee-operators from a chemical industry had to work with three different types of annunciator systems, based either on conventional or on modern instrumentation principles. Sequential information-presentation proved to be inferior to a system based on simultaneous information-presentation both in performance and ratings.

It can be concluded that task and process state determine the way in which process information should be presented to the human operator. One single type of ‘alarm” information on VDU should be avoided. A plea is made to consider both simultaneous and sequential presentation in the development of new systems. It is recommended that manufacturers, users (process industry) and researchers should co-operate more closely.

Keywords:

• Alarm system
• Information presentation
• Operator tasks
• VDUs.