Torbjørn Skramstad

A case study of ISO 11064 in control centre design in the Norwegian petroleum industry

In 2006-2008 we performed a case study for the purpose of assessing the industrial application of the seven part Control Centre (CC) design standard ISO 11064 to identify positive and negative experiences among stakeholders in the Norwegian petroleum sector. We mainly focussed on ISO 11064 Part 1, because this was the most commonly used among the identified stakeholders. ISO 11064 is generally appreciated and applied in the industry, but we did observe a significant variance in use between the different parts of the standard. We also identified potential areas for improvements, like scope and application adaptation. Thus we suggest a more goal-based approach based on one normative part only.

Enhancing the Safety, Security and Resilience of ICT and Scada Systems Using Action Research

This paper discusses the results of a questionnaire-based survey used to assess the safety, security and resilience of information and communications technology (ICT) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems used in the Norwegian oil and gas industry. The survey identifies several challenges, including the involvement of professionals with different backgrounds and expertise, lack of common risk perceptions, inadequate testing and integration of ICT and SCADA systems, poor information sharing related to undesirable incidents and lack of resilience in the design of technical systems. Action research is proposed as a process for addressing these challenges in a systematic manner and helping enhance the safety, security and resilience of ICT and SCADA systems used in oil and gas operations.

Proactive Indicators To Control Risks in Operations of Oil and Gas Fields

Due to increased need for oil and gas, new and more demanding oil fields must be explored in sensitive and challenging areas. Exploration of expert knowledge and new technology must be employed in these challenging situations. This collaboration and use of new technology introduces new ways of operating oil and gas fields. These new practices are often called “field of the future” or “integrated operations” (IO). These new practices are being implemented on the Norwegian continental shelf, leading to increased hydrocarbon recovery and changes in operations and maintenance. These practices may impact health, safety and environment (HSE), but should not increase the risks of major accidents or influence HSE in a negative manner.

Autonomic Service-Oriented Architecture for Resilient Complex Systems

Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) are increasingly applied in industrial systems that need to be very dependable as they are critical for business continuity, safety and/or security. In addition, such systems are getting ever more complex, especially in terms of their number of interacting sub-systems or components and emergent (mis)behavior. In the face of this growing complexity, SOA based systems need to be resilient to meet high dependability requirements, even in increasingly dynamic system environments. This desired resilience is supported, amongst others, by ‘autonomic’ SOA systems that have important run-time capabilities like introspection and self-adaptation. In this paper we explore different concepts and techniques that are needed to achieve this.

Assessment of the Trustworthiness of Digital Records

It is easy enough to assert the trustworthiness or otherwise of a digital record, but it is far more difficult to present an objective basis for that assertion. A number of recent research efforts have focused on the trustworthiness of a digital record while paying scant attention to the record’s evidential value as a measure of and a basis for the assessment of its trustworthiness. In this work, we study a model for the assessment of the trustworthiness of digital records based on their evidential values using the Dempster-Shafer (D-S) theory. The model is divided into three modules, (i) a knowledge-modelling module that models expert knowledge and consequent belief of evidence, (ii) an evidence-combination module that combines evidence from different sources in the face of uncertainty, and (iii) a trustworthiness assessment module that aggregates and integrates evidence, and assesses its trustworthiness. An example is presented to show how the model works.

Software in Maritime: Cost efficient Quality Management and Control

Software is to an increasing degree delivering value to the maritime industry through, e.g., optimized energy use, prolonged equipment life, bridge decision support, integrated control systems, alarm systems, and emergency shut-down systems. However, as the amount of software onboard vessels increases, so does the possibilities for undependable vessel behavior. Based on research performed in cooperation between yards, equipment manufacturers and standards professionals during a multinational, multi-organization joint industry project, it has become clear that there is a concern that the measures required by vessel and equipment buyers may not be fully adequate for tomorrows software controlled vessels. Standard products are engineered into a system as one phase, and then integrated, parameterized, and tuned in a compressed time space, on site. Based on incidents investigated in the research project, needs for increased attention to certain foci areas in large scale software engineering are identified. Furthermore, a framework for overall quality assessment is suggested, based on suggestions from senior industry professionals in eight organizations from four European countries.

Maritime automation, and emergency handling - software: Design, system integration and quality

Increased usage of software based systems and components within the maritime industry is challenging with respect to safety, security and service continuity. We have studied the risks with increased automation onboard ships in a two year multinational joint industry project. The study also included how to deal with emergency situations due to automation system failure. As part of the study we interviewed several individuals from ship owners, ship operators, yards as well as equipment suppliers. Many of the interviewed actors have informal and ad-hoc strategies for managing the software integrated on ships and associated systems. This paper identifies the need for protocols and supportive systems to match these challenges. The explicit need for improvements in life cycle processes, system architecture and quality assurance is also identified as a consequence of the increased exposure to software and software integration with related faults and failures. The paper proposes some recommendations with the purpose of dealing with these challenges.