Sommerville-Software-Engineering-10ed

Chapter 20 ■ Exercises 607
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Architectural patterns for systems of systems are a means of describing and discussing typical
architectures for SoS. Important patterns are systems as data feeds, systems in a container, and
trading systems.
Further Reading
“Architecting Principles for Systems of Systems.” A now-classic paper on systems of systems that
introduces a classification scheme for SoS, discusses its value, and proposes a number of architectural
principles for SoS design. (M. Maier, Systems Engineering, 1 (4), 1998).
Ultra-large Scale Systems: The Software Challenge of the Future This book, produced for the U.S.
Department of Defense in 2006, introduces the notion of ultra-large-scale systems, which are systems
of systems with hundreds of nodes. It discusses the issues and challenges in developing such
systems. (L. Northrop et al., Software Engineering Institute, 2006). http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/
assets/ULS_Book20062.pdf
“Large-scale Complex IT Systems.” This paper discusses the problems of large-scale complex IT
systems that are systems of systems and expands on the ideas here on the breakdown of reductionism.
It proposes a number of research challenges in the area of SoS. (I. Sommerville et al., Communications
of the ACM, 55 (7), July 2012). http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1145/2209249.2209268
Website
PowerPoint slides for this chapter:
www.pearsonglobaleditions.com/Sommerville
Links to supporting videos:
http://software-engineering-book.com/videos/systems-engineering/
Exercises
20.1. Explain why managerial and operational independence are the key distinguishing characteristics
of systems of systems when compared to other large, complex systems.
20.2. Briefly explain any four essential characteristics of systems of systems.