Multi-system management: the next step after supervisory control?

This paper introduces the human-machine systems engineering problem of "multisystem management" and discusses the effect of increasing levels of automation on the role of the human operator in supervisory control systems. Characteristics of automation, the role of the human operator in increasingly automated systems, and the problems created by poorly design automation are discussed. Finally, an integrated theory of the function of multiple layers of automation and the role of the human operator in multisystem management is offered.