Dynamic Alarm Information Presentation Strategy under the Influence of Dynamic Elements in Smart Factory.
Authors: Zhu Pengli , Wang Linlin , Xue ChengQi 
Published: January 2025

This study aims to propose a dynamic design strategy to assist operators in swiftly identifying alarm-indicating controls within dynamic background environments. Through comparative data analysis of alarm signals in behavioral experiments, the research identifies the most suitable combination of alarm information for the current smart factory interface, thereby laying the groundwork for improving alarm presentation methods on monitoring interfaces. With the advent of the Industry 4.0 era, the digitalization process is driving contemporary industrial manufacturing towards unmanned and intelligent development. smart factory is an advanced factory that integrates factory automation with complex information technology. hmi acts as a connection between the user and the controlled process by providing important information, alarms, and other features.The application of visual alarm formats in visual display interfaces exhibits diverse characteristics, offering advantages such as rapid capture of user attention, intuitive discernibility, and the proactive provision of situational urgency. However, operators typically engage in sustained attention towards system interfaces, necessitating prolonged focus to identify specific target signals. This process imposes high demands on the operator's perceptual attention levels, and extended periods of attention may lead to visual fatigue and increased cognitive load.In many smart factory human-machine interfaces (HMIs), the incorporation of dynamic elements can partially capture operators' attention, such as dynamic arrows or color blocks indicating the status of flowing pipelines. While these dynamic elements can significantly reduce users' search time for pipeline directions and signal the normal operation of the pipelines, an excess of dynamic information may lead to a decrease in users' visual search efficiency. When an alarm is triggered by a control on a line, it typically indicates an abnormality in the flow rate or valve of the pipeline. Some scholars argue that static alarms are difficult for operators to detect within dynamic backgrounds, which may compromise system safety. Crisp (1988) noted that when multiple moving items are present on a display, the search tends to be limited to the moving set, while static items are often overlooked.{Citation} Conversely, other researchers assert that static objects are generally more conspicuous in dynamic environments. McLeod et al. (1988) demonstrated that operators can identify a stationary target among moving items, and this ability is independent of the number of moving distractors, although the search efficiency remains slightly lower compared to identifying moving targets among stationary distractors. According to the previous theory, the experiment was designed with three independent variables, the background screen color (dark background R17, G31, B54 and light background R242, G242, B242), the dynamic/static alarm signals (differentiated by whether or not they are blinking, and the blinking frequency of 2Hz), and the transparency (10%, 30%, and 50%); as well as two dependent variables: the accuracy rate and the response time.The experimental interface simulates the screen when an alarm signal appears in the monitoring interface of a smart factory, as shown in Fig. 1.The experimental phase consisted of 10 × (2 × 2 × 3 + 5) × 2 groups of trials (10 subjects × (2 background screen colors × 2 blinking signals × 3 transparency levels + 5 no-alarm controls) × two repetitions), for a total of 340 TRAIL trials. The experimental interface was simulated using E-prime 2.0 and the material was edited in AE software.Each trial subjects need to watch a video of the analog monitoring interface, once the alarm signal appears, subjects need to press the “K” key; if no alarm signal appears, choose to press the “D” key. The correct rate and reaction time of the subjects on different visual alarm forms are recorded, and the average correct rate and average reaction time of each group can be statistically obtained after the data output. Conclusions(1) The effect of the transparency of the warning signs on task correctness is significant.(2) The presence of dynamic blinking effect does not have a significant effect on task correctness.(3) Light-colored backgrounds are more likely to be recognized as warning signals relative to dark-colored backgrounds.(4) There was no interaction between the three variables of transparency, flashing frequency, and background color.Application：By analyzing the experimental data, a design strategy suitable for the dynamic interaction background of this smart factory is derived. The research results can be applied to the study of dynamic alarm message presentation in human-machine interfaces containing dynamic elements as background.