A References Architecture for Human Cyber Physical Systems, Part II: Fundamental Design Principles for Human-CPS Interaction

Abstract

As automation increases qualitatively and quantitatively in safety-critical human cyber-physical systems, it is becoming more and more challenging to increase the probability or ensure that human operators still perceive key artefacts and comprehend their roles in the system. In the companion paper, we proposed an abstract reference architecture capable of expressing all classes of system-level interactions in human cyber-physical systems. Here we demonstrate how this reference architecture supports the analysis of levels of communication between agents and helps to identify the potential for misunderstandings and misconceptions. We then develop a metamodel for safe human machine interaction. Therefore, we ask what type of information exchange must be supported on what level so that humans and systems can cooperate as a team, what is the criticality of exchanged information, what are timing requirements for such interactions, and how can we communicate highly critical information in a limited time frame in spite of the many sources of a distorted perception. We highlight shared stumbling blocks and illustrate shared design principles, which rest on established ontologies specific to particular application classes. In order to overcome the partial opacity of internal states of agents, we anticipate a key role of virtual twins of both human and technical cooperation partners for designing a suitable communication.