The current study evaluates the effectiveness of a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system that operates by detecting a P300 elicited by one of four randomly presented stimuli (i.e., YES, NO, PASS, END). Two groups of participants were tested. The first group included three ALS patients that varied in degree of disability, but all retained the ability to communicate; the second group included three Non-ALS controls. Each participant participated in ten experimental sessions during a period of approximately 6 weeks. Sessions were conducted either at the participant's home or in the lab. During each run the participant's task was to attend to one stimulus and disregard the other three. Stimuli were presented auditorily, visually, or in both modes. Additionally, on each run, the experimenter would either tell the participant which stimulus to focus on, or ask the participant a question and the participant would focus on the correct "YES/NO" answer to the question. Overall, for each participant, the ERPs elicited by the target stimuli could be discriminated from the non-target stimuli; however, less variability was observed in the Non-ALS group. Comparing across sessions, the within session variability was lower than across session variability. In addition, waveform morphology varied as a function of the presentation mode, but not in a similar pattern for each participant. Offline and simulated online classification algorithms conducted using step-wise discriminant analysis produced results suggesting the potential for online classification performance at levels acceptable for communication. Future investigations will begin to focus on testing online classification performance with real-time feedback, and continuing to examine stimulus properties to determine how to maximize P300 amplitude for individual users.

En av Glimek AB:s mest förekommande maskiner är SD-180 som används för degavvägning. Den finns i flera olika varianter. Den enklaste har enbart start- och stoppknapp och en potentiometer för att ställa hastigheten och en mer avancerad variant har en operatörspanel där olika möjligheter till inställningar finns. Konstruktionen på denna maskin hade inte uppdaterats på många år och behövde en uppdatering av användargränssnitt, programvara och elkonstruktion. Arbetet har framförallt koncentrerat sig på användargränssnittet till panelen. En del av arbetet var att undersöka om det var möjligt att utesluta PLC ur konstruktionen och använda en mer avancerad programmerbar frekvensomformare. Eftersom det blev problem med lanseringen av programvara till frekvensomformaren och enbart en mindre bra fungerande demoversion fanns tillgänglig så var detta tyvärr inte möjligt. I arbetet har olika varianter på operatörspaneler utretts. Exempel på flödesdiagram till PLC har också gjorts. / One of Glimek AB's most common machines is the dough divider, SD-180. It is available in many different variants. The simplest has only a start- and stop button and a potentiometer to set the speed. A more advanced version has an operator panel with various options. The design of this machine had not been updated in many years and needed an update of the user interface, software and electrical construction. The thesis has mainly concentrated on the human machine interface. A part of the work was to investigate whether it was possible to exclude the PLC from the design and use a more powerful and programmable frequency inverter.Unfortunately problems arose with the release of the software for the frequency converter. Only a demo version of the software where available and it was not possible to this study because of that. Different variants of human machine interface have been investigated. An example flowchart diagram to the PLC has also been made.

Various roles for operators in human-machine systems have been proposed. This thesis shows that all of these views have in common the fact that operators perform best when given feedback that matches their intent. Past studies have shown that position control is superior to rate control except when operating large-workspace and/or dynamically slow manipulators and for exact tracking tasks. Operators of large-workspace and/or dynamically slow manipulators do not receive immediate position feedback. To remedy this lack of position feedback, a ghost arm overlay was displayed to operators of a dynamically slow manipulator, giving feedback that matches their intent. Operators performed several simple one- and two-dimensional tasks (point-to-point motion, tracking, path following) with three different controllers (position control with and without a ghost, rate control) to indicate how task conditions influence operator intent. Giving the operator position feedback via the ghost significantly increased performance with the position controller and made it comparable to performance with the rate control. These results were further validated by testing coordinated position control with and without a ghost arm and coordinated rate control on an excavator simulator. The results show that position control with the ghost arm is comparable, but not superior to rate control for the dynamics of our excavator example. Unlike previous work, this research compared the fuel efficiencies of different HMIs, as well as the time efficiencies. This work not only provides the design law of matching the feedback to the operator intent, but also gives a guideline for when to choose position or rate control based on the speed of the system.

Content on CD can be found with print thesis held at Turitea library, Palmerston North. Content: Chapter 8 Appendix 8.1. PLC Code 8.2. Mean-Shift Code 8.3. Webcam Interface HTML Code 8.4. PIC18F4520 / In the rapid development of flexible automation and the broad application of computer technology, industrial monitor software has played an integral role in all kinds of industrial areas. It allows operators to monitor and control a plant in real-time with feedback from any number of processes. Traditionally industrial monitor software exhibits low efficiency, lack of reliability, non-reconfigurable and does not support multi-communication protocols, as is required for the exchange of data from outside of the factory. (Fan, 2006) Configuration software is basically type of the industrial automation and process monitor and control application. It supports Human Machine Interface (HMI), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, realizes interlink between low level device and upper management network. Nowadays, with the advent of Configuration Software, engineers can readily construct field control systems with minimal developmental time and cost while allowing the combination of a plethora of user requests and control. The primary objective of this thesis is to develop a web base application with surveillance ability to realize remote control of an ABB IRB 340 Flexpicker robot through Siemens Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) system. The communication between the application and robot system is to be built using configuration software to link a number of third party devices through the inclusion of OLE for Process Control (OPC) techniques, graphical design editors, web navigators, and tag management. The thesis also introduces a vision system with trig-board design for object recognition and tracking.

The operation of sophisticated unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) involves complex interactions between human and machine. Unlike other areas of aviation where technological advancement has flourished to accommodate the modernization of the National Airspace System (NAS), the scientific paradigm of UAS and UAS user interface design has received little research attention and minimal effort has been made to aggregate accurate data to assess the effectiveness of current UAS human-machine interface (HMI) representations for command and control. UAS HMI usability is a primary human factors concern as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) moves forward with the full-scale integration of UAS in the NAS by 2025. This study examined system learnability of an industry standard UAS HMI as minimal usability data exists to support the state-of-the art for new and innovative command and control user interface designs. This study collected data as it pertained to the three classes of objective usability measures as prescribed by the ISO 9241-11. The three classes included: (1) effectiveness, (2) efficiency, and (3) satisfaction. Data collected for the dependent variables incorporated methods of video and audio recordings, a time stamped simulator data log, and the SUS survey instrument on forty-five participants with none to varying levels of conventional flight experience (i.e., private pilot and commercial pilot). The results of the study suggested that those individuals with a high level of conventional flight experience (i.e., commercial pilot certificate) performed most effectively when compared to participants with low pilot or no pilot experience. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) computations for completion rates revealed statistical significance for trial three between subjects [F (2, 42) = 3.98, p = 0.02]. Post hoc t-test using a Bonferroni correction revealed statistical significance in completion rates [t (28) = -2.92, p<0.01] between the low pilot experience group (M = 40%, SD =. 50) and high experience group (M = 86%, SD = .39). An evaluation of error rates in parallel with the completion rates for trial three also indicated that the high pilot experience group committed less errors (M = 2.44, SD = 3.9) during their third iteration when compared to the low pilot experience group (M = 9.53, SD = 12.63) for the same trial iteration. Overall, the high pilot experience group (M = 86%, SD = .39) performed better than both the no pilot experience group (M = 66%, SD = .48) and low pilot experience group (M = 40%, SD =.50) with regard to task success and the number of errors committed. Data collected using the SUS measured an overall composite SUS score (M = 67.3, SD = 21.0) for the representative HMI. The subscale scores for usability and learnability were 69.0 and 60.8, respectively. This study addressed a critical need for future research in the domain of UAS user interface designs and operator requirements as the industry is experiencing revolutionary growth at a very rapid rate. The deficiency in legislation to guide the scientific paradigm of UAS has generated significant discord within the industry leaving many facets associated with the teleportation of these systems in dire need of research attention. Recommendations for future work included a need to: (1) establish comprehensive guidelines and standards for airworthiness certification for the design and development of UAS and UAS HMI for command and control, (2) establish comprehensive guidelines to classify the complexity associated with UAS systems design, (3) investigate mechanisms to develop comprehensive guidelines and regulations to guide UAS operator training, (4) develop methods to optimize UAS interface design through automation integration and adaptive display technologies, and (5) adopt methods and metrics to evaluate human-machine interface related to UAS applications for system usability and system learnability.

Context: The Human Machine Interface (HMI) for Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs) is limited in its capability and is often the most common cause of failure when interacting with devices. A new approach to interact with these devices is needed with focus on improving interaction and effective visualization of information. Objectives: In this thesis, we investigate and propose a solution to visualize data of existing IED in interactive way. A mobile based prototype is proposed to list alarms, events and disturbances. Further single line diagram shown with capability to switch controls. Objective of proposed solution is to investigate specific use of mobile device from the perspective of usability and compare the new prototype with existing use of IED monochrome screen interface. Methods: Mixed approach based on qualitative and quantitative methods is conducted for analysis of the problem, method and approach to solve the problems in the domain of Substation automation. Analysis of the problem was carried out with the literature review of the technical documentation of IEDs. Experiments are performed in real environment to test and verify the usability of prototype. Results: Experiments results of proposed solution indicate that new approach is acceptable. The interfaces developed in mobile provide better results than traditional interfaces of IED. The difference between them is significant. Conclusions: We conclude that mobile usability gives better interaction, freedom, visualization of information and enhance the users’ experience by providing context specific information as compared to the existing Local Human Machine Interface of Intelligent Electronic Devices. The study provides strong results that recent developments of mobile technologies have revolutionized users’ possibilities to access information in an easy and better way.

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In most levels of vehicle automation, drivers will not be merely occupants or passengers of automated vehicles. Especially in lower levels of automation, where the driver is still required to serve as a fallback level (SAE L3) or even as a supervisor (SAE L2), there is a need to communicate relevant system states (e.g., that the automated driving system works reliably or that there is a need for manual intervention) via the Human-Machine Interface (HMI). However, there are currently no agreed-upon guidelines that apply specifically to HMIs for automated driving. In this paper, we summarize design recommendations for visual-auditory and visual-vibrotactile HMIs derived from empirical research, applicable standards and design guidelines pertaining to in-vehicle interfaces. On this basis, we derive an initial set of principles and criteria for guiding the development and design of automated vehicle HMIs. A heuristic evaluation methodology consisting of an itemized checklist evaluation that can be used to verify that basic HMI requirements formulated in the guidelines are met is also presented. The heuristic evaluation involves an inspection of the HMI during typical use cases, judging their compliance with the proposed guidelines and documentation of identified instances of non-compliance. Taken together, the combination of the proposed guidelines and the heuristic evaluation methodology form the basis for both design and validation recommendations of automated vehicle HMIs, that can serve the industry in the important evolution of automation within vehicles.

Objective: The human–machine interface (HMI) is a crucial part of every automated driving system (ADS). In the near future, it is likely that—depending on the operational design domain (ODD)—different levels of automation will be available within the same vehicle. The capabilities of a given automation level as well as the operator’s responsibilities must be communicated in an appropriate way. To date, however, there are no agreed-upon evaluation methods that can be used by human factors practitioners as well as researchers to test this. Methods: We developed an iterative test procedure that can be applied during the product development cycle of ADS. The test procedure is specifically designed to evaluate whether minimum requirements as proposed in NHTSA’s automated vehicle policy are met. Results: The proposed evaluation protocol includes (a) a method to identify relevant use cases for testing on the basis of all theoretically possible steady states and mode transitions of a given ADS; (b) an expert-based heuristic assessment to evaluate whether the HMI complies with applicable norms, standards, and best practices; and (c) an empirical evaluation of ADS HMIs using a standardized design for user studies and performance metrics. Conclusions: Each can be used as a stand-alone method or in combination to generate objective, reliable, and valid evaluations of HMIs, focusing on whether they meet minimum requirements. However, we also emphasize that other evaluation aspects such as controllability, misuse, and acceptance are not within the scope of the evaluation protocol.

Projektet går ut på att ersätta den befintliga styrningen av en DC-generator för 1200 kV med en fjärrstyrning från kontrollrummet via optolänk. Den nya styrningen ska utgöras av ett PLC-system (Programmable Logic Controller) som manövreras med hjälp av ett HMI – Human Machine Interface. Bakgrunden till projektet härrör från att den befintliga styrutrustningen är opålitlig samt styrs i en farlig miljö. Rapporten går igenom hur befintlig styrutrustning fungerar samt dess ingående komponenter, hur ett PLC-system fungerar med dess bakgrund och olika programmeringsspråk. Även programmeringen och byggnationen av det nya systemet avhandlas. I slutet av rapporten ges en genomgång av de provkörningar som utförts för att säkerställa att alla funktioner fungerar som tänkt. Resultat av provkörningarna ges och diskussion förs kring projektet. Projektet är utfört åt högspänningsgruppen på RISE i Borås som använder generatorn bland annat vid kalibrering av spänningsdelare. Det nya styrsystemet innefattar alla av den tidigare styrutrustningens funktioner och några nya funktioner så som överströms- och överspänningsskydd vilka slår från spänningsmatningen om dessa begränsningar överskrids. Att styrutrustningen nu är placerad i kontrollrumsmiljö gör att operatören kan hantera utrustningen utan att vara i närheten av farlig spänning. / The report aims to replace the current control equipment for a DC-generator for 1200 kV by remote control from control room through optical fibre link. The new control will be a PLC system controlled by a HMI – Human Machine Interface. The background to the project is that the existing control equipment is unreliable and controlled in a dangerous environment. The report shows how the current control equipment works and its constituent components, how a PLC-system works with its background and different programming languages. This report will also describe how the programming and building of the hardware are done. In the end of this report are going through a test run to confirm that the system is working properly. Result of the test run are given and some discussion. The project is initiated by the high voltage group at RISE in Borås, who are using the DC-generator for instance while calibrating voltage dividers. The new control system contains all of the functions from the earlier control system but also some new functions such as overcurrent and overvoltage protection who turns off power supply if the limits are exceeded. The control system is now located in the control room so that the operator can use the system without being close to high voltage.