Task analysis and decision support requirements for Dynamic Positioning operators

The present research was conducted as part of the Early Research Program Human Enhancement in the domain of Adaptive Maritime Automation, which strives to develop knowledge regarding the support of operators based on adaptively automated systems. To apply the developed knowledge about adaptive automation the use-case of Dynamic Positioning (DP) was chosen. The goal is to develop an Intelligent Operator Support System (IOSS) that can support the operator in his work to be safer, more efficient, and take over operator tasks during situations of underload so the operator can engage in additional tasks. This report contains a task analysis of the activities of a DP operator aboard a Floating Production Storage Offloading (FPSO) vessel during stationary operations, and possible opportunities for operator support are identified. To identify the various tasks and sub-task sets involved in a standard stationary FPSO operation of a DPO, a Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) was conducted. It was found that the generic control tasks sense, assess, decide, act, and plan recurred while performing several different higher level DP tasks. This led to the distinction of seven generic DP control loops that each involve the steps of the generic control tasks but with a focus on different DP subsystems. The seven control loops are: position control, system functioning control, redundancy control, environmental control, collision control, grounding control and infra avoidance control. For each of the loops, and their subtasks, the information needs were identified and divided between information given by the DP system, and information potentially given by a future IOSS. The relevance and intensity of a control loop is highly dependent on the type of operation, the location of the operation, and seasonal influences on the external environment such as hurricanes and sudden rapidly approaching waves. It was found in an interview with a DP operator that during some DP operations certain control loops are not performed at all, while others may require a lot of attention. This means that the HTA should be expanded with more formal workload measurements taking into account the great influences of external forces on the DP operation. This knowledge should be taken into account when designing the future IOSS. It has to be adaptive not only to the operator, but also to the varying conditions of the operation resulting in different information needs of the operator.