Framework For Human-Automation Collaboration: Proj

Abstract

The Human-Automation Collaboration (HAC) research project within the Department of Energy's Advanced Small Modular Reactor (AdvSMR) program is investigating how advanced technologies that are planned for AdvSMRs might affect the performance and the reliability of the plant from a human factors and human performance perspective. The HAC research effort investigates the consequences of allocating functions between the operators and automated systems. More specifically, the research team is addressing how to best design the collaboration between the operators and the automated systems in a manner that has the greatest positive impact on overall plant performance and reliability.As one step to accomplish this goal, the research team reviewed available information on AdvSMR designs and identified plant functions and operator tasks that might impact the design of the HAC. The identified functions and tasks will later be vetted against insights learned from the current fleet of Light Water Reactors (LWR), other industries where humans are collaborating with highly automated systems, and the results from the activities in the AdvSMR Concepts of Operations project to inform a high-level generic design model. This generic model will be used as a basis for experimental studies to study the effects of different HAC concepts as well as evaluating new human-system interface (HSI) solutions to support a well-functioning HAC.Another important part needed to accomplish the research goal is a model of the collaboration between the human operator and the automated system. The team has developed a model of HAC that defines: (1) the important design dimensions of automation that impact automation's use by personnel and integrated human-automation performance, (2) what aspects of human cognition, behavior, and performance mediate automation's use by personnel, and (3) when and how the above factors affect the use of automation and the overall performance of the HAC system. The HAC model is utilized to identify areas in need of additional research, which forms the basis for planned HAC research activities. By detailing the relationships between characteristics of HAC, automation, and human cognition, the HAC model identifies what aspects of the human-automation interaction are important to consider in developing automation for AdvSMR systems.