Aircraft Systems Classifications

8Summary and Future Developments

8.1 Introduction

The systems listed in Chapters 3, 4, and 5 have been described as individual or stand‐alone systems. This will be suitable for readers who have been given responsibility for a single system – for its design, its maintenance, or its procurement, for example. The systems diagrams will help to explain that there are almost inevitably interactions with other systems, and therefore, no system is truly ‘standalone’.

This situation leads to a number of aspects which must be considered in the design of an aircraft, quite apart from customer requirements, standards, and regulations. They make a significant contribution to the overall design and ultimately to fitness for purpose. Some of these aspects are discussed in this chapter and include the following:

• Systems of systems
• Integration
• Complexity
• Emergent properties
• Chaos

8.2 Systems of Systems

There are many circumstances in which one or more of these systems are combined to form a higher‐level system. This system will synergistically combine the various functions of the individual systems to form a function which is more comprehensive than the sum of its parts. Such a combination is often referred to as ‘a system of systems’. Example of such ‘systems of systems’ include the following:

• Propulsion (refer to Chapter 3)
• Navigation (refer to Chapter 4)
• Antennas (refer to Chapters 4 and 5)
• Weapon system (refer to Chapter 5)
• Military fast jet cockpit
• Flight deck of commercial airliner ...