HSI Design of Digital Twin in the Oil and Gas Domain

Studying human system integration provides critical guidelines for understanding how systems should be designed by and for humans. Those guidelines are even more essential in the design of complex systems such as Digital Twins (DTs). DTs are holistic models that aim to support humans in understanding complex systems. The oil-and-gas domain, aiming to ensure safety, studied how to design a DT of their installation to support control room operators better and increase safety. This study showed the necessity of understanding the users’ activity through cognitive function analysis and their situation awareness. Those analyses were performed with domain experts, providing the study with direct user insights. Those insights were used to apply recommended human–system integration (HSI) practices, such as human-in-the-loop tests and a simulator that ensured the user a specific place in the design process. The results enabled a system design that provides humans with on-point information to support their cognitive decision process. This approach also questioned classical technology-driven design, highlighting the need for specific information sources. It showed that HSI practices can be applied in the industry to support the design of systems according to human needs.