Plant Modeling for Human Supervisory Control

This paper provides an overview of multilevel flow modelling (MFM) and its application for design of displays for the supervisory control of industrial plant. The problem of designing the inforrrzatian content of sacpervisory displays is discussed and plant representations like MFM using levels of means-end and part-whole. abstractions are proposed as a solution to this design problem. The basic concepts of MFM are explained and its use in reasoning about means and ends, and part and whole in diagnosis are illustrated in detail by way of an example. A deeper elaboration of the semantics of MFM is also provided by an analysis of the relations between levels of abstraction. It is also described how MFM supparts reazsonin about control actions by defining levels of intervention and by modal distinctions between function enablement and initiation.