An evaluation of new console technology – large display – in process control display

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to test the effect of display layout/screen type on performance in a process control task (managing a tank farm). The study compared the following two conditions: (a) 4K-resolution 55″ screen with keyboard/mouse versus (b) 6-pack screens with keyboard/mouse. A within-subject experiment was conducted among 20 college engineering students. A primary task of preventing tanks from overfilling as well as a secondary task of manual logging with situation awareness questions were designed. Primary Task performance (including tank level at discharge, number of tank discharged and performance score), Secondary Task Performance (including Tank log count, performance score), system interaction times, subjective workload, situation awareness questionnaire, user experience survey regarding usability and condition comparison were used as the measures. The 6-pack setup was found to be slightly outperformed the 4K setup in tank discharge percentage. Detection+Navigation time was approximately one second shorter in the 4K condition compared to the 6-pack condition. On the other hand, the 6-pack condition outperformed the 4K-screen in the time to enter the values by two seconds. It was also found that the total time it took participants to properly discharge tanks was not significantly different between these conditions. In terms of the subjective feedbacks, participants felt equally about the 4K-screen and 6-pack conditions. More experiments need to be conducted to resolve some of the issues and come to a clearer conclusion.