Manual Control of Multi-Variable Systems

Abstract

In this paper, manual control of multi-variable systems is classified into three forms; (i) sequential control (ii) continuous tracking control and (iii) control in the systems in which certain limitations are imposed on state variables, and then the characteristics of human operators in the second control systems and the third control systems are analyzed. From these results some suggestions are obtained for the improvement of multi-variable tracking systems and for the reduction of learning or training time of human operators.
In the second case, it is found that human operators control multi-variable systems by the time-sharing method, and a discrete model is proposed to represent such operations in multi-variable tracking systems.
It is shown that characteristics of such systems can be improved by the use of adequate displays and controls.
In the third case, it is found that trained human operators are able to perform almost optimal operation in simple systems, and that it is possible to reduce the time necessary for learning the optimal operation, if the optimal operation pattern is informed to the operators beforehand.