SITUATION AWARENESS IN PROCESS CONTROL: A FRESH LOOK

摘要

We explore the question of how SA would be described if the notion originated from the process control domain. We seek an answer to this question in the literature on the challenges faced, and behaviors taken, by control room operators in relation to situation assessment in process facilities. The literature classifies situation assessment in terms of monitoring activities and reasoning/diagnosis activities with frequent indications of self-regulation. Monitoring leads to the recognition of deviating processes that require dedicated operator attention; reasoning leads to the recognition of the need for operator action as well as the explanation of the process anomalies; and self-regulation leads to the recognition of the need for operators to adapt their situation assessment and control strategies. These three classes of situation assessment activities and resulting awareness could be taken as a new description of SA in process control; one that is unencumbered by prevailing descriptions of a notion borrowed from a different domain. Further, taken as a whole, situation assessment and awareness in process control resembles creative problem solving, which contrasts with the resemblance between Endsley's description of SA and information processing models.