Systems of Systems

Chapter 10

Methods and Tools for Systems of Systems Engineering ¹

 

10.1. Systems of systems engineering: from the control of complexity to the necessity of a model-driven approach

Acknowledging systems of systems leads to the collaboration of distinct systems, none of which would be able to fulfill the mission on its own, but which can do so when grouped together within a framework still to be defined. Each system, which is specified, designed, developed, implemented and maintained potentially independently from the others, corresponds to a specific project involving distinct agents (prime contractors, prescribers of needs and technical prescribers, general contracting project teams, industrial project managers, industrialists).

This raises the question of the evolution of methods, both of acquisition and of use: distinct systems, entrusted to various teams and project managers, each with their own life cycle, must now be managed in a consistent and concerted way. Moreover, these systems must be integrated within vast sets, whose architectural definition (technical as well as organizational) may change, hence a new effort to take the interfaces into account, from their specification to their withdrawal, without neglecting the possible impacts this common implementation may have on the constitutive systems (taking into account the flows coming from other systems, physical compatibility problems, etc.).

It becomes clear that, because of the importance of the resulting flows (material, ...