Operational protocol

  A main reason for the operators failure to perform operational procedures is that there are too many options to chose from. The operators might waste time trying wrong options, and might activate undesired features.

  The design of operational procedures should comply with protocols, defining normal behavior.

The protocols should be scenario based, such that only features relevant to the situation are available to the operators.

Protocol types

Here are most common protocols:

• State transition: the conditions for the transitions, and expected transition time
• Inter-unit synchronization: the association between the states of different units, and expected synchronization time
• Human-machine cooperation: the association between machine states and operator's mode setting, and the transition time.

Protocol design

Protocols can be designed manually, based on task analysis, or semi-automatically, using statistically-obtained patterns of activity.

Related topic

Updated on 11 Jun 2017.