Systems-of-Systems Network Engineering

The DoD is moving rapidly toward relying on a networked force to more effectively counter the enemy across nearly all mission areas. The future networked force is envisioned to interoperate across a heterogeneous set of networks and to have the capacity and performance to facilitate very pressing warfighting applications with large numbers of network nodes. The force will operate over shared communication and network resources that can be readily composed into an interoperable system-of-systems. The U. S. military's Integrated Fire Control (IFC) capability is envisioned as a networked system-of-systems that integrates ships, aircraft, and ground-based weapon systems to counter air and missile threats. In this article, we explore engineering an interoperable networked system-of-systems for IFC, with focus on the communication and networking environment. This exploration includes developing specifications for defining functional consistency and performance interactions between critical internal components of the systems, as well as identifying a process for defining and maturing the networked system-of-systems design in a cost-constrained environment.