Overview of Industrial Alarm Systems

This chapter provides an overview of industrial alarm systems on main causes for alarm overloading, research status, and open problems [179]. First, basic concepts and important roles of alarm systems are presented. Second, alarm overloading is investigated as the most observable phenomenon for poor performance suffered by many existing industrial alarm systems, and four main causes are identified as the culprits for alarm overloading. Third, the current research status for industrial alarm systems is summarized, by focusing on the existing studies related to these main causes. Finally, eight fundamental research problems to be solved are formulated for the complete lifecycle of alarm variables composed of three stages including alarm configuration, alarm design, and alarm removal.