Operator support systems in S&C of large technical systems

Large technical systems, such as power stations, chemical plants, and refineries, tend to become more and more complex and therefore put increasing demands on the skills of the personnel in charge of their supervision and control (S&C). This has been known for decades and therefore much effort has been invested in the development of techniques and tools for the operating personnel in order to make sure that the systems in question can be properly controlled by humans. Technical advisory support tools have gained more and more importance over the past few years. The main reason for this is mainly the sharp decrease of prices of data processing components. Therefore it became feasible and cost effective to provide the operators with the necessary amount of knowledge about the process and its behaviour in real-time and in a way that is useful and comprehensible for them. Cheap computing power even allows to provide documentation, training material, operating or maintenance manuals no longer in the unwieldy form of large amounts of printed paper, but on computers and VDU-screens. It can additionally support operators in their search for important information