Fault identification in dynamic man-machine interaction

A growing number of industrial systems are interactive, hence depend on the joint functioning of men and machines to achieve their purpose. Assessing the reliability of such systems presents a methodological problem for two reasons. First, people and machines function in different ways, thus it is not reasonable to assume that the same methods can be applied in both cases. Second, the reliability of the joint system depends as much upon the interaction as on the characteristics of the components, hence methods are needed which can address the interaction in an adequate way. Here we argue for the use of dynamic analyses, and the approach used in the system response generator is described