Complex Systems and Systems of Systems Engineering

Chapter 2

Management of Emergency Situations: Architecture and Engineering of Systems of Systems ¹

2.1. Introduction

This chapter is given over to an emergency situation scenario. Our aim is to carry out engineering studies and create the architecture for a system of systems with the objective of improving the general treatment of road accident victims in order to reduce mortality and handicap rates within a region.

The topic of this case study is relevant at European level in light of the eCall and OASIS projects, at national level in France with the ACTIF¹ project [CER 09], and for private organizations with several recent initiatives, including that of the NCOIC.² However, while the treatment of the subject aims to be credible, it is not realistic. The means of tackling the case study, its structure, scenario and hypotheses are fictitious and have been created for instructional and educational reasons, considering structural characteristics of systems of systems. The concepts contained in this case study can easily be transposed to other domains as long as consideration is given to their relevance and capacity for implementation in a relevant manner in these different domains.

In the first section, after a brief overview of the main concepts of systems engineering, we shall present the context of the emergency situation management scenario. We shall then describe the events surrounding a major accident that led to a decision being taken by the authorities of the (fictional) ...