No Shortage <strong>of</strong> Research Issues and Challenges• Limits <strong>of</strong> Predictability and Controllability• Time-Varying Dependencies• Robust vs. Optimal <strong>System</strong> Designs• Failure Modes: Graceful Degradation, <strong>System</strong>Instabilities, Controllability• Emergent Behaviors and UnpredictableEnvironments• Evolvability, Flexibility, and Responsiveness, andthe Role <strong>of</strong> Redundancy• Characteristics <strong>of</strong> Complex <strong>System</strong>s (MultipleHeterogeneous <strong>System</strong>s, Distributed, NotNecessarily Co-Located, Human-Social / TechnicalInteractions)• Difficult Decision Making Environments, and theImportance <strong>of</strong> Human/<strong>System</strong> Interactions• Time-Dependent <strong>System</strong>s and the Importance <strong>of</strong>Understanding Network Dynamics• Operational Independence <strong>of</strong> Elements• Managerial Independence <strong>of</strong> Elements• Impacts <strong>of</strong> Policy and Development/ AcquisitionDecisions on Readiness and Capability• Architectures (Distributed, Centralized,Heterogeneous, Hierarchical, Hybrids)• Experimentation (Component vs. <strong>System</strong>-Level,Interactions, Emergent Behaviors, Co-Evolution<strong>of</strong> Technologies, Manned and UnmannedInteractions)• Modeling and <strong>Simulation</strong> (Static, Dynamic,<strong>Simulation</strong> Based Design, Agent-based)• Energy Integration with Emerging Technologies• Capability-Based Design Solutions for Robustnessto Changing Threat Scenarios• Metrics (Traditional, Non-Traditional,Quantification <strong>of</strong> Social Aspects)• Effective Decision Making (Repercussions,Coupling Techno-Policy- Infrastructure, <strong>System</strong> &Component Boundaries, Dependencies,Propagation <strong>of</strong> Information)Developing Methods and Techniques for <strong>System</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>System</strong>s <strong>Engineering</strong>Dr. Dimitri Mavris, dimitri.mavris@ae.gatech.edu56
Concluding Remarks• <strong>System</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>System</strong>s <strong>Engineering</strong> is a young field withmany exciting research opportunities– <strong>System</strong>s-<strong>of</strong>-<strong>System</strong>s <strong>Engineering</strong> requires new and novelapproaches to improve the traditional SE process• A wide range <strong>of</strong> methods is needed in order to addresskey SoSE challenges in both the military and the civildomain• Additionally, increased effort is needed in training thenext generation <strong>of</strong> engineers on how to approachproblems from an SoS perspective and on the use <strong>of</strong>collaborative visual analytics design approaches• Opportunities exist to collaborate under the presentONR study with the Italian Navy on Agent-basedMethods with University <strong>of</strong> GenoaDeveloping Methods and Techniques for <strong>System</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>System</strong>s <strong>Engineering</strong>Dr. Dimitri Mavris, dimitri.mavris@ae.gatech.edu57