Alarm Control Device Dynamic Filtering for Maintenance Operators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing alarm filtering methods are inadequate as they cannot be universally applied, leading to important alarms being overlooked or misclassified, especially during high-pressure failure scenarios, resulting in inefficient maintenance operations.
Innovation Solution
An alarm control device that acquires determination conditions from a storage unit and a management database to assess whether maintenance operator confirmation is necessary for each alarm, allowing for selective notification and filtering based on specific criteria such as past failure responses and operator expertise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a fixed alarm filter is applied to all device alarms, then the number of alarms is reduced, but important alarms may be lost due to inability to adapt to different cases
Solution Approach 1:
The alarm filter is transformed from a static fixed rule into a dynamic adaptive system that automatically adjusts based on alarm characteristics and operational context. The determination unit evaluates each alarm against multiple criteria including alarm type, frequency, and operational state to dynamically decide whether to filter or forward the alarm, resolving the contradiction between reducing alarm volume and maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameters of alarm filtering from binary (filter or not filter) to a multi-dimensional evaluation involving alarm frequency, type, operational context, and historical data. By transforming the filter into a flexible decision-making system that adjusts parameters based on real-time conditions, the system reduces false filtering while maintaining overall alarm reduction benefits.
2Reliability
If maintenance operators respond to all alarms during failure scenarios, then all potential issues are addressed, but operator workload increases and important alarms may be overlooked due to pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and removes unnecessary alarms from the operational workflow by automatically identifying and filtering out alarms that do not require maintenance operator intervention. This separation allows operators to focus exclusively on genuine issues, improving both the quality of maintenance responses and operator efficiency during high-pressure failure scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The alarm filtering system performs self-service by automatically evaluating and deciding which alarms require operator attention based on predefined criteria and historical data. This autonomous decision-making reduces the burden on operators while maintaining high maintenance quality, as the system serves itself in triaging alarm workload before it reaches human operators.
3Reliability
If no alarm filter is applied, then all alarms are transmitted to maintenance operators, but the number of alarms increases and operator workload increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial filtering by selectively filtering only the portion of alarms that meet specific criteria for automatic suppression, while allowing other alarms to pass through. This partial action approach maintains alarm completeness for critical issues while reducing overall workload by filtering out redundant alarms, achieving a balance between completeness and efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
To appropriately exclude alarms not requiring maintenance operator confirmation. An alarm control device 1 includes: an individual filter determination unit 11 which acquires, from a storage unit, a determination condition (an individual filter) for whether or not maintenance operator confirmation corresponding to a device alarm issued from a network element device 2 is necessary; an alarm evaluation unit 12 which acquires information corresponding to a determination criterion of the determination condition from a management database 4 managing the network element device 2, checks the acquired information with the determination condition, and determines whether or not maintenance operator confirmation is necessary; and an alarm notification unit 13 which transmits a device alarm to a maintenance operator terminal 5 when the maintenance operator confirmation is determined to be necessary and does not transmit the device alarm to the maintenance operator terminal 5 when the maintenance operator confirmation is determined to be unnecessary.