D EPARTMENT OF D EFENSE
Systems Engineering Guide for
Systems of Systems
Essentials
December 2010
Systems Engineering Guide for Systems of Systems: Essentials Director of Systems Engineering
Director, Systems Engineering
Office of the Director, Defense Research and Engineering
3040 Defense Pentagon
Room 3B938
Washington, DC 20301-3040 Washington, D.C.
http://www.acq.osd.mil/se
Systems Engineering Guide for Systems of Systems: Essentials
3. Assess SoS performance against capability objectives
4. Develop, evolve, and maintain an SoS architecture
5. Monitor and assess impacts of changes on SoS performance
6. Address SoS requirements and solution options
7. Orchestrate upgrades to SoS.
Finally, five crosscutting principles apply to systems engineering
for SoS:
1. Consider organizational issues in systems engineering decisions.
2. Acknowledge roles of system-level systems engineers.
3. Conduct balanced technical management.
4. Use an architecture based on open systems and loose coupling.
5. Focus on design strategy and trades.
This publication is intended for use by program managers and systems engineers.
Suggested citation:
Systems Engineering Guide for Systems of Systems: Essentials. Washington, D.C.: Office
of the Director, Defense Research and Engineering, Director of Systems Engineering,
2010.
Director, Systems Engineering
3040 Defense Pentagon
Room 3B938
Washington, DC 20301-3040
http://www.acq.osd.mil/se
Approved for public release November 2010, case #11-S-0469.
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Systems Engineering Guide for Systems of Systems: Essentials Systems Engineering Guide for Systems of Systems: Essentials
2. Acknowledge roles of system-level systems engineers. System- This booklet summarizes the Department of Defense (DoD) Systems
level systems engineers have the knowledge, responsibility, and Engineering Guide for Systems of Systems 1 by addressing the following
ability to address implementation. SoS systems engineering questions:
should concentrate on risk, configuration management, and data
across the SoS. An SoS Integrated Master Schedule defines key 1. What is a system of systems?
intersection points and dependencies between the SoS and 2. How is a system of systems different from a regular system?
systems.
3. How is systems engineering for a system of systems different?
3. Conduct balanced technical management. During early stages
of an SoS, it is relatively easy to involve systems engineers of 4. How does the Systems Engineering Process apply?
the constituent systems in all aspects of SoS systems
engineering. This level of involvement is not sustainable, What is a system of systems?
however; rather employ transparency and trust coupled with A system of systems (SoS) brings together a set of systems for a task that
focused participation of experienced engineers. none of the systems can accomplish on its own. Each constituent system
4. Use an architecture based on open systems and loose keeps its own management, goals, and resources while coordinating
coupling. Developing an SoS architecture based on open within the SoS and adapting to meet SoS goals. SoS can be categorized 2
systems and loose coupling accommodates the changing needs of based on their degree of centrality.
users and frees engineers to apply the best technology. It lets SoS • Virtual. The SoS lacks central management and a centrally
trade studies minimize concerns about interfaces between agreed-upon purpose.
elements and acts as a roadmap for evolving constituent systems.
• Collaborative. Component systems within the SoS interact more
5. Focus on design strategy and trades. SoS are typically or less voluntarily to fulfill agreed upon-central purposes.
evolutionary and deliver increments of capability over time.
Design analysis, both up-front and ongoing, facilitates the • Acknowledged. The SoS has recognized objectives, a
evolution. designated manager, and resources, while the constituent
systems retain their independent ownership, objectives, funding,
Summary: How does the Systems Engineering development, and sustainment approaches.
Process apply? • Directed. The SoS is built and managed to fulfill specific
This booklet summarizes systems engineering for SoS. DoD SoS are purposes. Constituent systems operate independently, but their
modifications to ensembles of existing and new systems that together normal operational mode is subordinate to central management
address needs. An SoS is an overlay on systems, wherein the systems purposes.
retain their identity and, concurrently with the SoS, continue their
management and engineering. How is a system of systems different from a regular
Seven core elements characterize SoS systems engineering and system?
provide a context for applying systems engineering. In SoS, systems • Stakeholder Involvement. Stakeholders exist at both system
engineering must and SoS levels with competing interests and priorities.
1. Translate SoS capability objectives into requirements
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2. Understand constituent systems and relationships http://www.acq.osd.mil/se/docs/SE-Guide-for-SoS.pdf
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http://www.acq.osd.mil/se/briefs/2008-04-08-IEEESysConf-Dahmann-Baldwin.pdf
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Systems Engineering Guide for Systems of Systems: Essentials Systems Engineering Guide for Systems of Systems: Essentials
• Governance. Management and funding exist for both the SoS 3. Assess SoS performance against capability objectives. Metrics
and individual systems. An SoS rarely has authority over all and methods for assessing SoS performance should be
the systems. independent of implementation, highlighting important
mission threads.
• Operational Focus. SoS must meet operational objectives using
systems whose objectives may not align with the SoS objectives. 4. Develop, evolve, and maintain an SoS architecture. An
architecture should begin with the de facto architecture of the
• Acquisition. Systems align to Acquisition Category milestones SoS, and then address a concept of operations, functions,
and documented requirements. SoS have multiple system life relationships, and dependencies of constituent systems. It
cycles across acquisition programs, involving existing systems, includes communications, end-to-end functionality, and data
systems under development, new developments, and technology flow and provides a technical framework for assessing changes.
insertion. It considers the current state and plans of the systems.
• Test and Evaluation. Testing must synchronize across multiple 5. Monitor and assess impacts of changes on SoS performance.
system life cycles and must account for the complexity of all the Change includes changes internal to constituent systems and
components working together. external demands on the SoS. Constituent systems evolve
• Boundaries and Interfaces. A system focuses on its own independently of the SoS. Understanding the impact of change
boundaries and interfaces. An SoS enables the flow of data, permits intervention to forestall problems or to implement
control, and functionality across the SoS while accommodating mitigation strategies.
needs of the systems. 6. Address SoS requirements and solution options. An SoS has
• Performance and Behavior. A system must perform to meet requirements for the SoS and constituent systems. For the SoS,
specified objectives. SoS performance must satisfy both SoS user needs must be collected, assessed, and prioritized, then
user needs and the needs of the systems. options evaluated for addressing them. Options must balance
needs of the systems and the SoS.
How is systems engineering for a system of systems 7. Orchestrate upgrades to SoS. Selected options must be funded,
different? planned, contractually enabled, facilitated, integrated, and tested.
Constituent systems make the changes, but SoS systems
Core Elements. Seven core elements of SoS systems engineering engineering orchestrates the process, coordinating, integrating,
provide a context for applying systems engineering processes. and testing across the SoS.
1. Translate SoS capability objectives into requirements. At the Crosscutting Issues. Looking across core elements and processes, five
start of an SoS, its goals are often stated as needed capabilities. crosscutting principles apply to systems engineering for SoS.
They must be translated into requirements on the constituent
systems. 1. Consider organizational issues in systems engineering
decisions. Decisions about where to implement a function
2. Understand constituent systems and relationships. Technical should be based on development schedules and funding as much
and organizational understanding of candidate systems permits as on technical issues. When a function aligns with a system’s
selection of an optimal set of constituent systems for an SoS and goals, funding is more likely to be available and schedules
facilitates downstream change. This understanding includes how more flexible.
a system works, how it supports SoS objectives, and its
development plans.
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