Alarms within advanced display systems: alternatives and performance measures

This study surveys five advanced alarm handling systems in industries having problems similar to nuclear process control. The survey identifies the uniqueness of each system as well as features common to all. One such common feature is the use of alphanumeric alarm message strings displayed on cathode ray tubes (CRT). The study presents alternatives for display of this information and dynamic techniques for the addition and deletion of alarms. A software package is described that incorporates the alternatives and allows low-fidelity experiments to be conducted in an environment that simulates nuclear process control. The package was used to test static aspects of alarm CRTs and led to the conclusion that quantitative data should come before qualitative data in alarm message strings. Methods for low-fidelity testing of display dynamics are also discussed