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HMI Design:
The Good, the bad, and the ugly
(and what makes them so)
Standards Certification Education & Training Publishing Conferences & Exhibits
Paul Gruhn, P.E. ICS Triplex | Rockwell Automation
Paul Gruhn, P.E.
Training Manager, ICS Triplex | Rockwell Safety Systems Specialist for 22 years ISA F Fellow ll Member of ISA SP84 committee (20 years) Instructor for ISAs courses on Safety Instrumented Systems (8 days of material) Co-author of ISA book on Safety Instrumented Systems Developer of commercial modeling software Registered Professional Engineer in Texas ISA 84 Expert
ISA Houston
Why the concern about HMIs?
People who dont know better produce
Contrast: Things that are different should look very different. Repetition: Repeat visual elements Alignment: Every element should have some visual connection with another. P Proximity i it : Things that belong together should be placed together. Those that are different, should not.
Source: The NonDesigners Design Book
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Not following convention
Print belongs under the File File menu. menu
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Situation Awareness
Three stages: 1. Being aware of the situation around you
Perception of needed data and the current situation
2. Understanding what the information means to you now
Comprehension of information and the current situation
3. Understanding what the information means to you in the future
Projection of future status
Source: Designing For Situation Awareness
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Demons of Situation Awareness
Attention tunneling
Fixating on one set of information to the exclusion of others
Memory trap
Relying on limited short-term memory
Workload, anxiety, fatigue and other stressors
Reduction of a persons capacity to process information
Data overload
Overwhelming amounts of data
Source: Designing For Situation Awareness
Demons of Situation Awareness
Misplaced salience
Salience: the compellingness of certain information Being drawn to the wrong information
Complexity creep
Too many features make it difficult to develop an accurate mental model
Errant mental models
Use of the wrong model leads to misinterpretation of information
Out-of-the-loop syndrome
Automation can undermine SA
Source: Designing For Situation Awareness
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Where DCS graphics started
Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
What we then migrated to
Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
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Fewer colors, but is this really any different?
Is this process healthy? What should the values be?
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So why have we developed things like this?
User had no internal standard or guideline Vendor had no drawings other than P&IDs Vendor understood what the control system was doing Easiest solution was to display the PI&D with all the control system data No one ever asked the operators what their goals were (not tasks!) Few understand SA and its demons
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Poor HMI designs have:
P&ID representation No trends Fl hi / i i graphics Flashing/spinning hi Bright colors, 3-D shadows Color coding of piping and vessel contents Measurement units in large, bright text Lots of crossing lines Alarm related colors for non-alarm related elements Inconsistent colors
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Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
The medical equivalent: Is this person OK?
Temp B.R. Pulse B.P. Col HDL LDL Tri 98.6 F 20 /min 72 bpm 98.0 99.5 16 24 60 84
120/80 mmHg >130 / >85 197 mg/dL <200 52 mg/dL >40 126 mg/dL <130 100 Mg/dL <150
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Is this person OK?
How far ahead of its time was this!!
Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
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The Role of the Operator
Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
The human in the loop should be predictive, not reactive The goal is to predict and prevent problems, not respond to them after theyve happened
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Is this compressor running optimally?
What should the values be?
Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
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The compressor graphic is superfluous!
Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
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A good example: status, trends, an alarm
Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
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So whats wrong here?
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Is this compressor healthy?
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What should these values be?
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Good HMI designs have:
Depiction of process status and values as information, not numbers Layout consistent with operators model of the process (not a P&ID) Key Performance Indicators as trends No gratuitous information Gray backgrounds, low contrast Very limited use of color (for alarming) Consistent visual and color coding Gray process lines Measurement units in low contrast lettering, if used at all
Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
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Change is difficult
Are you riding the same mule, but just sitting in a different saddle? Human beings beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. Douglas Adams Involvement and buy-in will be needed from management management, technical staff, and operators
Source: The High Performance HMI Handbook
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For the rest of the story
By Bill Hollifield , Dana Oliver, Ian Nimmo Nimmo, & Eddie Habibi For more info, visit: www.pas.com and www.mycontrolroom.com As well as the ASM consortium: www.asmconsortium.net
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For the rest of the story
By Mica Endsley, Betty Bolt, & Debra Jones
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