Self-organizing map in process visualization

Abstract

Our research group is studying data-analysis based techniques in decision support and visualization. We have had co-operation with a Finnish nuclear power plant Olkiluoto within a long industrial research project. We have developed many decision support schemes and visualizations based on self-organizing map (SOM) method combined with other methodologies. In this paper, we discuss about SOM method in the process visualization of dynamic systems. With a case example produced with the Olkiluoto plant data we show the information value of this method. Some comparisons to other methodologies are made and the assessment of the information value and the definition of the assessment criteria are discussed. The measurement of the information value is a challenging task. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.