Home

Research projects

Over the last few years, Namahn has spent considerable effort in developing know-how about Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) for safety-critical systems. This effort is firmly based on continuing research.

This page discusses safety-critical systems, our approach to them, our projects and our publications.

What are safety-critical systems?

Safety-critical systems are characterised by:

  • Risk of serious damage to the environment or loss of life (e.g. systems used in the control room of a power plant)
  • Complex tasks performed by expert users (e.g. systems used in surgery)
  • Operator control over equipment or people (e.g. in a train cab)
  • Performance under time pressure (e.g. in emergency response)

Safety-critical systems are typically found in healthcare, defence, transport (air, surface or water), utilities and emergency management.

Namahn’s approach to safety-critical systems

The two pillars of Namahn’s research approach are:

theoretical work
Namahn performs research in the following topics relevant to the design of HMIs for safety-critical systems:
  • Situation Awareness: in order to make appropriate decisions, the operator must be aware of what is happening in the relevant context and what is likely to happen in the future (Endsley, 1995)
  • Naturalistic Decision Making: expert users make decisions quickly, based on experience rather than on rational analysis (Klein, 1998, Flin et al., 2008)
  • Distributed Cognition: cognition is distributed in time, space and socially; the link between individuals, artifacts and the environment must be well understood (Hutchins, 1995)
  • Resilience: the system should be designed to increase the ability to recover after a mishap (Hollnagel et al., 2006).
mastering techniques
When designing HMIs for safety-critical systems, Namahn has adopted the following techniques:
  • field studies: ethno-methodology, patterns of cooperative interaction and link analysis (related to distributed cognition)
  • task analysis: cognitive task analysis and goal directed task analysis (related to situation awareness)
  • cognitive modelling: (shared) mental models, which are essential to expert performance of complex tasks (related to distributed cognition)
  • HMI design and specification: from conceptual design to early prototypes and engineering specifications
  • testing and validation: field testing
  • risk management: safety cases and critical incident technique [both under development]

Projects

Namahn is or has been involved in the following research projects:

  • European Union - Artemis (funding): Astute, pro-active decision support for data-intensive environments; Namahn specifies the HMI and usability assessment methodology, and designs and validates the HMI of two cases of supervisory control; 2011-2014, 33 person months.
  • European Union - ITEA2 (funding): UsiXML, development of an XML-based User Interface Description Languages; Namahn validates the language in two cases; 2009-2012, 18 person months, see http://itea.defimedia.be/key-goals
  • Brussels Region - INNOViris (funding): HCI theory applied to critical systems; Methodology research consisting in a literature review, case studies and consolidation of methodology components; 2006-2008, 20 person months
  • Flanders Region - IBBT: ICA4DT: New technologies for diagnostic analysis of radiographic images; 2006, 4 person months

Publications

  • Van Kerckhoven, J., Geldof, S. and Vermeersch, B. (2010) Contextual Inquiry in Signal Boxes of a Railway Organization. In Palanque, P., Vanderdonckt, J. and Winckler, M. (Eds) . Human Error, Safety and Systems Development, HESSD 2009, Revised Selected papers (LNCS 5962) Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 96-106
  • Geldof, S. and Van Kerckhoven, J. (2008) Field Study Techniques for Supervisory Control Systems. In J. Drury (Ed.) Proceedings of the HCP08 workshop on Supervisory Control in Critical Systems Management. Delft, The Netherlands, June 2008
  • Geldof, S. and Vandermeulen, J. (2007) A Practitioner's View of Human-Computer Interaction Research and Practice. Artifact Volume 1 Issue 3, January 2007, pp 134-141

References

  • Endsley, M.R. (1995) Toward a Theory of Situation Awareness in Dynamic Systems. Human Factors Journal, Volume 37(1), March 1995, pages 32-64
  • Flin, R., O'Connor, P. and Crichton, M. (2008) Safety at the Sharp End. A Guide to Non-Technical Skills. Aldershot: Ashgate
  • Hollnagel, E., Woods, D. and Leveson, N. (2006) Resilience Engineering. Concept and Precepts. Aldershot: Ashgate
  • Hutchins, E. (1995) Cognition in the Wild. Cambridge, MA: MIT press
  • Klein, G. A. (1998) Sources of Power. How People Make Decisions, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press