Control situations in supervisory control

It is widely acknowledged that the safe and efficient supervisory control of complex dynamic systems requires that human operators are capable of checking the state of the controlled system against given performance criteria. In addition, it is important to consider how changes in the state of the controlled system and its environment influence the control situation: the possibility of bringing about system state changes by performing control actions on the controlled system (the control possibilities), and the requirements for bringing about appropriate state changes in the controlled system (the control requirements). This paper addresses fundamental problems related to the design of human-machine systems that can track changes in control situations. Based on a theoretical analysis of control actions, a generic structure is proposed for control situations. The issues of how to specify control situations and how to derive changes in the control situation, based on a representation of the work domain, are also addressed, using examples.