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OVERVIEW From either an understanding or an application perspective, system-of-systems development is in its infancy; many definitions and approaches have been formulated to address these types of problems. Although views vary, it is widely agreed that systems of systems is a new and critical discipline for which frames of reference, thought processes, quantitative analysis, tools and design methods are incomplete {Link without Title} . The processes for addressing system-of-systems problems are being described more and more often as System-of-systems Engineering . Descriptions Commonly proposed descriptions—not necessarily definitions—of systems of systems collected partly from: {Link without Title} , are outlined below in order of their appearance in the literature: # Linking systems into joint System-of-systems allows for the interoperability and synergism of Command, Control, Computers, Communications, and Information (C4I) and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Systems. Manthorpe Jr., W.H., "The Emerging Joint System-of-Systems: A Systems Engineering Challenge and Opportunity for APL," Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Vol. 17, No. 3 (1996), pp. 305–310. {Link without Title} : ''description in the field of information superiority in modern military''. # System-of-Systems are large-scale concurrent and distributed systems the components of which are complex systems themselves Kotov, V. "Systems-of-Systems as Communicating Structures," Hewlett Packard Computer Systems Laboratory Paper HPL-97-124, (1997), pp. 1–15. {Link without Title} : ''description in the field of communicating structures & information systems in private enterprise''. #System-of-Systems Education involves the integration of systems into System-of-Systems that ultimately contribute to evolution of the social infrastructure:Luskasik, S.J. "Systems, Systems-of-Systems, and the Education of Engineers," Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis, and Manufacturing, Vol. 12, No. 1 (1998), pp. 55-60. ''description in the field of education of engineers on the importance of systems and their integration''. # System-of-Systems Integration is a method to pursue development, integration, interoperability, and optimization of systems to enhance performance in future battlefield scenarios Pei, R.S., "Systems-of-Systems Integration (SoSI) – A Smart Way of Acquiring Army C4I2WS Systems," Proceedings of the Summer Computer Simulation Conference, (2000), pp. 574-579.: ''description in the field of information intensive systems integration in the military''. # Modern systems that comprise System-of-Systems problems are not monolithic, rather year have five common characteristics: operational independence of the individual systems, managerial independence of the systems, geographical distribution, emergent behavior and evolutionary developmentSage, A.P., and C.D. Cuppan. “On the Systems Engineering and Management of Systems-of-Systems and Federations of Systems,” Information, Knowledge, Systems Management, Vol. 2, No. 4, 2001, pp. 325-345.: ''description in the field of evolutionary acquisition of complex adaptive systems in the military''. # Enterprise Systems-of-Systems Engineering is focused on coupling traditional systems engineering activities with enterprise activities of strategic planning and investment analysisCarlock, P.G., and R.E. Fenton. "System-of-Systems (SoS) Enterprise Systems for Information-Intensive Organizations," Systems Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 4 (2001), pp. 242-261.: ''description in the field of information intensive systems in private enterprise''. #System-of-Systems problems are a collection of trans-domain networks of heterogeneous systems that are likely to exhibit operational and managerial independence, geographical distribution, and emergent and evolutionary behaviors that would not be apparent if the systems and their interactions are modeled separatelyDeLaurentis, D. “Understanding Transportation as a System-of-Systems Design Problem,” 43rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, Nevada, Jan. 10-13, 2005. AIAA-2005-0123. DeLaurentis, D. A. and Callaway, R. K. “A System-of Systems Perspective for Future Public Policy,” Review of Policy Research, Vol. 21, No. 6, 2004. pp. 829-837. [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1541-1338.2004.00111.x?cookieSet=1 : ''description in the field of National Transportation System, Integrated Military and Space Exploration''. Taken together, all these descriptions suggest that the complete system-of-systems framework is needed by decision makers to determine whether related infrastructure, policy and/or technology considerations as an interrelated whole are good, bad or neutral over time {Link without Title} . The need to solve system-of-systems problems is urgent not only because of the growing complexity of today’s grand challenges, but also because such problems involve large amounts of money and other resources. The system-of-systems approach While the individual systems constituting a system of systems can be very different and operate independently, their interactions typically expose and deliver important Emergent properties. These emergent patterns have an Evolving nature that stakeholders for these problems must recognize, analyze and understand. The system-of-systems approach does not advocate particular tools, methods or practices; instead, it promotes a new way of thinking for solving grand challenges where the interactions of technology, policy and economics are the primary drivers. System-of-systems study is related to the general study of Architecting , Complexity and Systems Engineering , but also brings to the forefront the additional challenge of Design . Systems of systems typically exhibit the behaviors of complex systems. But not all complex problems fall in the realm of systems of systems. Inherent to system-of-systems problems are several combinations of traits, not all of which are exhibited by every such problem {Link without Title} :
The first five traits are commonly known as Maier’s criteria for system-of-systems problems. The remaining three have emerged from further investigation and analysis of literature and applications done by researchers at Purdue . {Link without Title} . Research Current research into effective approaches to system-of-systems problems includes:
Applications Systems of systems, while still being investigated predominantly in the defense sector, is also seeing application in such fields as Transportation and Space Exploration . Other applications where it can be applied include Health Care , design of the Internet and Software integration. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS & INDUSTRY Industry and university collaboration is helping to drive system of systems development. There are ongoing projects throughout academia, university, and government. Some of the universities working on system-of-systems problems are Purdue, the University of Kansas, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Old Dominion University, George Mason University, the University of New Mexico and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Some of the corporations active in the area are BAE Systems , Northrop Grumman , Boeing , Raytheon , Thales_Group and Lockheed Martin . The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Department Of Defense (DoD) are a couple of the government institutions performing and supporting research in systems of systems. As one example, DoD recently established the National Centers for System-of-Systems Engineering National Centers for System-of-Systems Engineering to develop a formal methodology for system-of-systems engineering and to apply it to defense-related projects. LITERATURE
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