Fundamentals of the theory of system alliances are briefly reviewed. An accent is put on interfaces (IFs). The model of IFs consisting of a pair of finite deterministic automata sharing a part of their internal state space is introduced. The presented model of alliance interface can be successfully implemented for the study of typical phenomena in complex heterogeneous objects with a significant degree of uncertainty.
Human society needs still more intensive exploitation of all kinds of
transportation facilities. This need has already lasted for several decades and will be much more imperative in future. Mobility is one of the basic requirements for survival, besides the energy and food resources, health care and security. The requirements on transportation systems concern not only the quantitative and qualitative aspects of transportation activities, but still more also the aspects of their reliability and safety. This concerns not only the transported subjects or goods but also the environment.
The losses caused by failures of transportation activities reach even now a very high level and if not limited by systematic research and preventive activity, they will reach quite a tremendous level soon.
However, practically all the conternporary transportation vehicles, trains, ships and planes and also all the transportation systems need, for their proper operation, the interaction with human beings, which drive them, controls them or uses them and maintains them.
In spite of the fact that significant progress was made in recent years as concerns the transportation systems automation, the fully automatic transportation systam in use is still foreseen in the considerably far future.
Analyzing the reliability and safety of transportation, one finds that the activity of a human being is the weakest point. The technical reliability of almost all transportation tools has improved quite a lot in the past years; however, the human subject interacting with them has not changed too much, as for his/her reliability and safety of the respective necessary interaction.
Therefore there is a vital necessity to improve it and the possibilities how to implement it will stay more and more in the focus of our interest.
In this paper an overview of the related problems is made, the challenges for further research and development in this area are discussed and the outline of a vision, with respect to human interaction reliability, of optimized transportation systems is presented.
Both Scientists and System Analytics share common experience that complex interfaces (for example "human - machine" interface within the complex hybrid system, or synapse in the human brain) susceptibly react both to the dimension of the task (i.e.: the number / type of interface parameters / markers) and to the degree of uncertainty.
In order to quantitatively evaluate this effect, the model of interface is presented first. Then the problem is analyzed. The results of the study indicate:
Even a low degree of uncertainty, "acting" homogeneously on all parameters of the respective interface, has significantly adverse effect on the interface regularity (consequently the reliability of systems processes as well) if the number of parameters (i.e. dimension of the pertinent task) is sufficiently high.
Even a significant uncertainty in one or in a small number (typically 1 or 2) of interface parameters has a limited or negligible impact on the interface regularity if this interface is sufficiently robust.
There are three basic attempts how to increase the regularity of complex interfaces: (a) smart simplification (b) utilizing redundancy or contextuality (c) interface conjugation.
There is common, rather empirically supported knowledge within the
body of the System Analysis that complex interfaces (for example “man - machirie” interface within the hybrid system, or synapse in the human brain) susceptibly react both on the dimension of the task (i.e.: the number / type / domain of interface parameters / markers), and the level of uncertainty. In order to quantitatively evaluate this effect, the overview of the different concepts of interface is done first. Then the problem is analyzed on the background of geometrical considerations.
The results of the study indicate that even a low degree of uncertainty has significantly adverse eífect on the interface regularity (consequently the reliability of systems processes, as well) if the dimension of the pertinent task is sufficiently high.
Practical implication of this result for systém analytics is straightforward - keeping the dimension of the task as low as possible. The interface dimension higher than 5 is in the majority of tasks with moderate uncertainty considerably unfavorable. This result imposes serious constrain to the systems identification.
A trial of analogies utilization among electrical, mechanical and information circuits is presented. The concepts of Information Power and significant proximity of the measure of information and knowledge could enable upgrading these analogies for solving important tasks from the area of Systems Engineering. This attempt seems to be attractive, as it could help in using the well-established and proved methodologies from the classical areas of electricity or mechanics.