COMPUTER SYSTEMS FOR REAL-TIME PROCESS CONTROL AND SUPERVISION A Framework for Education Based on a Systems-Engineering Approach

Systems for process control and supervision are today a fundamental ingredient in many industrial processes, from discrete parts manufacturing to continuous type processes such as the electrical power system. They provide for manual as well as automatic control and many information type functions and their role are of increasing importance in operation and maintenance of the process. Systems of this kind are often considered as being complex, difficult to design, analyze and use. To be able to understand how a system may be built up, a broad knowledge from the industrial process, via the system itself to the human user, is required. This paper introduces a framework and a systematic methodology based on a systems-engineering approach which can be used to form courses in this important field.