The purpose of this project was to examine the effects of sensor noise on Ecological Interface Design (EID). More specifically, the project aimed to investigate how sensor noise will affect operators’ control strategies and performance.

Modern process control plants are made of several components which are often structured in a complex manner. In order to monitor the interactions between all the different components, sensors are installed at strategic locations throughout the plant. One of the main functions of sensors is to probe the physical plant (world) and send the acquired information to an interface, so that it can be monitored by operators.

Despite the current state of technology when it comes to sensing devices, information transmitted by the instrumentation and control equipment is often noisy. That is, sensors will have a certain range of inaccuracy and propagation of the signal from the sensing device to the control panel is likely to contain some noise. In that sense, data about the state of world will be uncertain, affecting both the interface content and the ways operators will cope with the noisy equipment.

The purpose of this project was to examine the effects of sensor noise on Ecological Interface Design (EID). While a large number of studies have shown that EID improves performance, there has not been to date an investigation of the effects of the presence or magnitude of sensor noise on performance and control strategies using an EID display. A series of experiments were conducted using the DURESS II microworld. The principles of Dynamical System Theory (DST) were used to analyse strategy shifts while operators had to cope with EID displays that contain sensor noise.

Results from this project may help in improving the design process of interfaces for complex systems as well as determining the robustness of EID framework and its applicability in real industrial settings.