Concepedia

Key Challenges and Opportunities in &#8216;System of Systems&#8217; Engineering

2006 · 28 citations · 6 references

TL;DR

SoSE derives value by repurposing existing assets and designing new ones, typically through interfacing existing systems or harmonizing holons, yet managing the ongoing evolution of the resulting SoS is more challenging than its initial creation. The paper aims to identify challenges and opportunities for next‑generation concepts, principles, methods, and tools to create and sustain SoS. The authors review current SoSE practices to pinpoint gaps and propose future concepts, principles, methods, and tools for SoS creation and sustainability.

Abstract

System of systems engineering (SoSE) extracts value from existing assets and designs new assets to be more easily re-purposed, than has been the case. One way SoSE arrives at a system of systems (SoS) is by interfacing or incorporating existing systems. Another way is by "harmonizing" a set of holons. Either way managing the on-going evolution of the SoS is more challenging than initializing the SoS. This paper presents the challenges and opportunities for the next generation of concepts, principles, methods and tools that are needed for creating and sustaining SoS's.