System of systems engineering

System of Systems Engineering (SoSE) is a developing process for designing and implementing solutions to System of Systems problems. SoSE is new term being commonly used in Department of Defense applications, but is increasingly being applied to non-military/security related problems. SoSE is more than systems engineering of complex problems, because design for System of Systems problems is performed under some level of uncertainty in the requirements and the constituent systems.

Due to varied methodology and areas of applications in existing literature, there is no unified consensus for processes involved in System of Systems Engineering. One of the proposed SoSE frameworks by Dr. Daniel A. DeLaurentis at Purdue University recommends a three-phase method where a SoS problem is defined (understood), abstracted, modeled and analyzed for behavioral patterns. More information on this method and other proposed methods can be found in the listed SoSE focused organizations and SoSE literature in the subsequent sections.

Organizations

System of Systems Signature Area [1] at Purdue University's College of Engineering

National Centers for System of Systems Engineering [2]at Old Dominion University

Center for Intelligent Networked Systems [3] at Stevens Institute of Technology

System of Systems Engineering Center of Excellence [4]

References

Kenneth Cureton, F. Stan Settlers, "System-of-Systems Architecting: Educational Findings and Implications," 2005 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Waikoloa, Hawaii, October 10-12, 2005. pp. 2726-2731.

Daniel DeLaurentis, Donald Fry, Oleg Sindiy, Sricharan Ayyalasomayajula, "Modeling Framework and Lexicon for System-of-Systems Problems," IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics-Part A: Systems and Humans," 2006 - PAPER IN SUBMISSION PROCESS.

Daniel DeLaurentis, "Understanding Transportation as a System-of-Systems Design Problem," 43rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, Nevada, January 10-13, 2005. AIAA-2005-0123.

Mo Jamshidi, "System-of-Systems Engineering - A Definition," IEEE SMC 2005, Big Island, Hawaii, URL: http://ieeesmc2005.unm.edu/SoSE_Defn.htm [5]

Charles Keating, Ralph Rogers, Resit Unal, David Dryer, et al. "System of Systems Engineering," Engineering Management Journal, Vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 36.

Charles Keating, "Research Foundations for System of Systems Engineering," 2005 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Waikoloa, Hawaii, October 10-12, 2005. pp. 2720-2725.

Jack Ring, Azad Madni, "Key Challenges and Opportunities in 'System of Systems' Engineering," 2005 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Waikoloa, Hawaii, October 10-12, 2005. pp. 973-978.