CIMS: A FRAMEWORK FOR INFRASTRUCTURE INTERDEPENDENCY MODELING AND ANALYSIS

Today’s society relies greatly upon an array of complex national and international infrastructure networks such as transportation, utilities, telecommunication, and even financial networks. While modeling and simulation tools have provided insight into the behavior of individual infrastructure networks, a far less understood area is that of the interrelationships among multiple infrastructure networks including the potential cascading effects that may result due to these interdependencies. This paper first describes infrastructure interdependencies as well as presenting a formalization of interdependency types. Next the paper describes a modeling and simulation framework called CIMS© and the work that is being conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to model and simulate infrastructure interdependencies and the complex behaviors that can result

SIG -- The Role of Human-Computer Interaction in Next-Generation Control Rooms

The purpose of this CHI Special Interest Group (SIG) is to facilitate the convergence between human-computer interaction (HCI) and control room design. HCI researchers and practitioners actively need to infuse state-of-the-art interface technology into control rooms to meet usability, safety, and regulatory requirements. This SIG outlines potential HCI contributions to instrumentation and control (I&C) and automation in control rooms as well as to general control room design

Joint System Prognostics For Increased Efficiency And Risk Mitigation In Advanced Nuclear Reactor Instrumentation and Control

The science of prognostics is analogous to a doctor who, based on a set of symptoms and patient tests, assesses a probable cause, the risk to the patient, and a course of action for recovery. While traditional prognostics research has focused on the aspect of hydraulic and mechanical systems and associated failures, this project will take a joint view in focusing not only on the digital I&C aspect of reliability and risk, but also on the risks associated with the human element. Model development will not only include an approximation of the control system physical degradation but also on human performance degradation. Thus the goal of the prognostic system is to evaluate control room operation; to identify and potentially take action when performance degradation reduces plant efficiency, reliability or safety

MODELING HUMAN RELIABILITY ANALYSIS USING MIDAS

This paper summarizes an emerging collaboration between Idaho National Laboratory and NASA Ames Research Center regarding the utilization of high-fidelity MIDAS simulations for modeling control room crew performance at nuclear power plants. The key envisioned uses for MIDAS-based control room simulations are: (i) the estimation of human error with novel control room equipment and configurations, (ii) the investigative determination of risk significance in recreating past event scenarios involving control room operating crews, and (iii) the certification of novel staffing levels in control rooms. It is proposed that MIDAS serves as a key component for the effective modeling of risk in next generation control rooms

Cognitive Virtualization: Combining Cognitive Models and Virtual Environments

3D manikins are often used in visualizations to model human activity in complex settings. Manikins assist in developing understanding of human actions, movements and routines in a variety of different environments representing new conceptual designs. One such environment is a nuclear power plant control room, here they have the potential to be used to simulate more precise ergonomic assessments of human work stations. Next generation control rooms will pose numerous challenges for system designers. The manikin modeling approach by itself, however, may be insufficient for dealing with the desired technical advancements and challenges of next generation automated systems. Uncertainty regarding effective staffing levels; and the potential for negative human performance consequences in the presence of advanced automated systems (e.g., reduced vigilance, poor situation awareness, mistrust or blind faith in automation, higher information load and increased complexity) call for further research. Baseline assessment of novel control room equipment(s) and configurations needs to be conducted. These design uncertainties can be reduced through complementary analysis that merges ergonomic manikin models with models of higher cognitive functions, such as attention, memory, decision-making, and problem-solving. This paper will discuss recent advancements in merging a theoretical-driven cognitive modeling framework within a 3D visualization modeling tool to evaluate of next generation control room human factors and ergonomic assessment. Though this discussion primary focuses on control room design, the application for such a merger between 3D visualization and cognitive modeling can be extended to various areas of focus such as training and scenario planning

Advantages and Disadvantages of Physiological Assessment For Next Generation Control Room Design

Abstract - We propose using non-obtrusive physiological assessment (e.g., eye tracking,) to assess human information processing errors (e.g., loss of vigilance) and limitations (e.g., workload) for advanced energy systems early in the design process. This physiological approach for assessing risk will circumvent many limitations of current risk methodologies such as subjective rating (e.g., rater’s biases) and performance modeling (e.g., risk assessment is scripted and is based upon the individual modeler’s judgment). Key uses will be to evaluate (early in the design process) novel control room equipment and configurations as well as newly developed automated systems that will inevitably place a high information load on operators. The physiological risk assessment tool will allow better precision in pinpointing problematic design issues and will provide a “real-time” assessment of risk. Furthermore, this physiological approach would extend the state-of-the-art of human reliability methods from a “static” measure to more “dynamic.” This paper will discuss a broad range of the current popular online performance gauges as well as its advantages and disadvantages for use in next generation control room

Failure analysis of a repairable system: the case study of a cam-driven reciprocating pump

This thesis supplies a statistical and economic tool for analysis of the failure characteristics of one typical piece of equipment under evaluation: a cam-driven reciprocating pump used in the submarine's distillation system. Comprehensive statistical techniques and parametric modeling are employed to identify and quantify pump failure characteristics. Specific areas of attention include: the derivation of an optimal maximum replacement interval based on costs, an evaluation of the mission reliability for the pump as a function of pump age, and a calculation of the expected times between failures. The purpose of this analysis is to evaluate current maintenance practices of time-based replacement and examine the consequences of different replacement intervals in terms of costs and mission reliability. Tradeoffs exist between cost savings and system reliability that must be fully understood prior to making any policy decisions.http://archive.org/details/failurenalysisof1094542976U.S. Navy (USN) authorApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Failure, repair and replacement analysis of a navy subsystem: case study of a pump

An age-replacement policy may be used to minimize the cost of replacement and repair of a system whose rate of repairable failures increases with age. In this paper we model the failure times before replacement of one such system- a pump used on a submarine- by a non-homogeneous Poisson process having log-linear hazard rate which is a function of age. Maximum likelihood is used to estimate model parameters. A renewal-reward process is used to obtain estimates of log-run average costs of age-replacement policies. It should be noted that the policy obtained does not recognize possible between-submarine differences but does acknowledge that noise from a submarine pump is not to be tolerated

Technology Roadmap Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface to Support DOE Advanced Nuclear Energy Programs

Instrumentation, Controls, and Human-Machine Interface (ICHMI) technologies are essential to ensuring delivery and effective operation of optimized advanced Generation IV (Gen IV) nuclear energy systems. In 1996, the Watts Bar I nuclear power plant in Tennessee was the last U.S. nuclear power plant to go on line. It was, in fact, built based on pre-1990 technology. Since this last U.S. nuclear power plant was designed, there have been major advances in the field of ICHMI systems. Computer technology employed in other industries has advanced dramatically, and computing systems are now replaced every few years as they become functionally obsolete. Functional obsolescence occurs when newer, more functional technology replaces or supersedes an existing technology, even though an existing technology may well be in working order.Although ICHMI architectures are comprised of much of the same technology, they have not been updated nearly as often in the nuclear power industry. For example, some newer Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) or handheld computers may, in fact, have more functionality than the 1996 computer control system at the Watts Bar I plant. This illustrates the need to transition and upgrade current nuclear power plant ICHMI technologies