System of Systems
System of systems (SoS) is a collection of systems that pool their resources and capabilities to create a new, more complex system, aiming to achieve a total result that is greater or better than what the individual systems can achieve acting independently. System of systems is currently a significant research discipline, for which analysis tools and design methods are being developed.
Description
Commonly proposed descriptions (not necessarily definitions) of a system of systems are listed below in the order of their appearance in the literature:
- The unification of systems into a single system of systems ensures the integration and interoperability of command, control, communications, and information systems, as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems in the field of information technology for the armed forces: description in the field of information technology for the armed forces.
- Systems of systems are large-scale parallel and distributed systems whose components are themselves complex systems: a description in the field of communication structures and enterprise information systems.
- A system of systemic education involves the integration of systems into a system of systems, which ultimately contributes to the development of social infrastructure: a description in the field of education.
- System of systems integration is a method for developing, integrating, ensuring interoperability, and optimizing systems to enhance performance in future combat scenarios: a description in the field of information systems integration in the armed forces.
- Modern systems, which encompass system-of-systems challenges, are not monolithic but possess five common characteristics: operational independence of constituent systems, managerial independence of the systems, geographical distribution, emergent behavior, and evolutionary development: a description in the field of evolutionary development and complex adaptive systems in the armed forces.
- The design of an enterprise system of systems combines traditional systems engineering activities with strategic planning and investment analysis functions/activities: a description in the field of enterprise information systems.
- A system of systems as a collection of cross-domain networks of heterogeneous systems that can demonstrate operational and managerial independence, geographical distribution, as well as emergent and evolutionary behavior that would not be apparent if the systems and their interactions were modeled separately: a description in the fields of national transportation systems, complex military, and space research.
Collectively, all these descriptions suggest that a comprehensive system of systems engineering framework is needed to improve decision support for systemic problems. Specifically, an effective system of systems engineering framework is required to help decision-makers determine whether the relevant aspects of infrastructure, policy, and/or technology, as an interconnected whole, are good, bad, or neutral over time. The need to address systemic problems is pressing not only because of the growing complexity of today's challenges but also because such problems require significant financial and resource investments with consequences that span multiple generations.
The introduction of the concept of a System of systems, in addition to the concept of a System, is motivated by the fact that traditional methods of systems engineering are not suitable for systems of systems.