The Use of Videowalls in Control Rooms: High Tech Appearence or Operational Help?

Abstract

AbstractThe article has as aim to discuss the use of large screen presentation of process information (videowalls) in control rooms. It presents the results of an evaluation of the usage of these presentation devices of information in a control room in Brazil. One year and a half after the videowall operation had begun, an Ergonomics Work Analysis was carried out (observation and follow up of the operation activity) to evaluate the use of this device.This article considers the ergonomic perspective, presenting the most commonly found traps and pitfalls. The paper aims to share the experiences obtained in this case study and generalized it to fit other control room projects. Thus, the results can be used as basis to help designers to (1) choose to use or not the videowalls and (2) what cautions need to be taken for an effective operational use.Our results show that the operational use of videowall, is still very low. The process of screen design for videowall has come across organizational and technical difficulties that have considerably reduces the device's flexibility. In this case study, the videowall is an instrument for a management use rather than operational use. The introduction of a new presentation device of information in a control room should follow considerations about the real activity of the operators, and especial, aid the operators: 1 –in the construction of a global view of the process2 –in the communication with the other operators (support in the collective work)3 –in the reduction of short-term memory demandsThe use of large screen for the presentation of operational information in control rooms can be a positive factor for the increase of industrial reliability. The elimination of old synoptic panel screens and its substitution for digital monitors brought many positive characteristics to the operation. However, the loss of a global view, the need to navigate between screens, the excessive number of alarms, amongst others, demand increasing cognitive efforts by part of the operators.