Systems of Systems (ePub)

In recent years, the systems designed to support activity in the
fields of banking, health, transportation, space, aeronautics,
defense, etc. have become increasingly larger and more complex.
With the growing maturity of information and communication
technologies, systems have been interconnected within growing
networks, yielding new capabilities and services through the
combination of system functionalities. This has led to a further
increasing complexity that has to be managed in order to take
advantage of these system integrations.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part
addresses the concept and practical illustrations of a
"system of systems" and is a multidisciplinary
introduction to the notion of a "systems of systems"
that is discussed extensively in the current scientific and
technical literature. After a critical comparison of the different
definitions and a range of various practical illustrations, this
part provides answers to key questions such as what a system of
systems is and how its complexity can be mastered. The
second part, described as "systems-of-systems engineering:
methods and tools", focuses on both engineering and modeling,
and standardization issues that are critical to deal with the key
steps in systems of systems engineering: namely eliciting
stakeholder needs, architecture optimization, integration of
constituent systems, qualification, and utilization.