Alphanumeric and graphic displays for dynamic process monitoring and control

The use of high resolution graphic display technology provides the control system designer with numerous options for displaying process plant information. This research evaluated the effectiveness of alphanumeric and graphic display formats for presenting system information in a dynamic process plant environment Thirty subjects, divided equally into three groups, were tested on three separate display formats: graphical, digital and multiple representations. The operators' task was to optimize the performance of a simulated fluid processing plant and to detect system failures. Results showed that the multiple display resulted in the best optimization performance and minimized the time required to detect failures. In general, the graphic display produced the worst performance with the digital display exhibiting intermediate results. The decision strategies used by the operators were found to have the greatest impact on performance. The results are discussed in terms of the merits of different display formats for representing system information in a manner appropriate to the operator's task.