Why It Matters

• In dynamic industrial environments, older data becomes less trustworthy as time passes.
• Operators may not naturally notice missing updates if stale data looks the same as fresh data.
• Subtle time-based visual cues prevent silent degradation of the operator's Situation Awareness.

Operational Impact Examples

• Missed update in compressor station status:
  If a compressor stops and the symbol appears normal, operators may fail to act before pressure rises to unsafe levels.

• Sensor disconnection during a chemical batch process:
  Outdated temperature data could give a false impression that a reaction is on track, risking off-spec product or safety issues.

• Outdated flowmeter reading in water treatment:
  Operators might assume flow is continuous when it’s not, delaying detection of a blockage or pump failure.

Visualizing data aging directly contributes to timely human intervention — a core requirement in process safety and product quality.

Real-World Analogy

Radar Displays:
In air traffic control, aircraft symbols often dim gradually if no radar sweep refreshes the aircraft’s position, providing an immediate visual cue of data aging.

Typical Design Techniques

• Fading Opacity: Visual elements gradually fade as data ages.
• Desaturation: Colors shift toward grayscale with time since last update.
• Countdown timers: Textual or graphical age indicators.
• Halo decay: Glows or edge highlights diminish as time passes.
• Last updated timestamp: Display of data freshness (less effective for fast visual scan).

Use Case for Platform Testing

Consider a pipeline network monitoring dashboard where equipment symbols fade if no update has been received in 5 minutes:

• A compressor station icon maintains full color if data is recent.
• If no update arrives after X amount of time, the icon fades toward 80% opacity.
• This immediately signals attention to possible stale or disconnected data.
• Upon receiving a new update, the full opacity is restored automatically.

Tested Platforms

✅ FrameworX — Supports Information Timeliness

Aspect	Notes
Implementation Approach	Analytics scripting used for simulating data and calculating a linear fade applied to object opacity.
Display Build	• Canvas page type used. • Icon opacity dynamically controlled via analytics tag.
Version Tested	10.0.1.464

✅ Ignition Perspective — Supports Information Timeliness

Aspect	Notes
Implementation Approach	Analytics scripting used for simulating data and calculating a linear fade applied to object opacity.
Display Build	• Dashboard display component used. • An opacity property was added, and an "Expression Binding" script configured to dynamically control opacity.
Version Tested	Module 2.1.48

Upcoming Vendor Testing

• Aveva PI System

See which platforms have been tested for each SA principle in the SA Vendor Listing.