INVITE Science Talk 2025 - Smart Automation
We invite you to an INVITE Science Talk where we take a deeper dive in smart automation. Aim is to keep the dialogue and interaction within our network vivid and discuss relevant topics for science and industry. It is an open event so please share it with other interested colleagues or friends.
Time: September 4th, 2025 from 10.00
Title: AI-Based Alarm Flood Management: Robustness, Uncertainty, and Explainability in Industrial Processes
Abstract: Alarm floods – the simultaneous activation of large numbers of alarms within a short time frame – pose a significant challenge to operators and the operational safety of automated industrial processes. In such situations, the situational awareness of control room personnel can be severely impaired, leading to delayed reactions and an increased risk of escalation.
This talk presents a modular framework that combines data-driven methods for the detection, similarity analysis, classification, and root-cause analysis of alarm floods. The goal is to detect, interpret, and evaluate process deviations at an early stage. The underlying methods are based on machine learning, trained on historical alarm data and applied online to analyze new alarms as they arise.
Unlike traditional “black-box” models, the framework incorporates techniques from explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), uncertainty quantification, and open-set recognition. This allows model decisions to be made transparent, while also enabling the reliable identification of uncertain or previously unseen situations not covered during training. As a result, the framework provides robust and trustworthy decision support, particularly in time-critical and safety-relevant scenarios. By doing so, it contributes to improving operational safety and reducing downtime in industrial plants.
Presenter: Dr.-Ing. Gianluca Manca