Researchers of the project "Beautiful” at the kick-off meeting in Aachen.
Berlin, February 27, 2023 - With an interdisciplinary consortium, PSI Software AG is developing a new interaction design for critical infrastructure control centers in the research project "Beautiful - Belastungsoptimierte Arbeitsgestaltung für Netzleitstellen kritischer Infrastruktur (Stress-optimized work design for critical infrastructure network control centers)".
Control center personnel are responsible for the safe and reliable operation of gas and electricity grids. The integration of renewable energy sources into the energy system requires the development of new control mechanisms. This leads to a significant increase in the relevant process information that must be taken into account for safe grid management. The goal is to optimize the energy mix while ensuring security of supply at all times.
PSI is providing a research control room where operating situations, including fault and attack scenarios, can be realistically mapped in a university environment and innovative operating concepts and assistance systems can be evaluated in terms of work science. The network operator will receive a training system on which the control center personnel can train complex monitoring and control tasks in the gas and electricity grid under real conditions. The project partners can evaluate the benefits of improved operating concepts and new assistance systems from an occupational science perspective. PSI will use the physio-psychological insights to develop modern interaction concepts for control systems of critical infrastructures.
The "Beautiful" project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. It is led by Fraunhofer FIT and implemented by an interdisciplinary consortium. In addition to PSI Software AG, the project partners are Avacon Netz GmbH, the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Ergoneers GmbH, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT, the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics FKIE, Humatects GmbH, IAEW of RWTH Aachen University, Interactive Wear AG and Visseiro GmbH. Associated partners are Schleswig-Holstein Netz AG and E.ON SE. On February 23 and 24, 2023, the kickoff took place in Aachen.
The PSI Group develops its own software products for optimizing the flow of energy and materials for utilities (energy grids, energy trading, public transport) and industry (metals production, automotive, mechanical engineering, logistics). The industry-specific products, which are built from standard components, are sold both directly and via the cloud-based PSI App Store and can also be customized by customers and partners themselves. PSI was founded in 1969 and employs more than 2,200 people worldwide.