Modeling System of Systems: A Generic Method Based on System Characteristics and Interface

In the 90s there was introduced concept of system of systems (SoS) in order to deal with growing complexity, geographical distribution, and heterogeneity of the various technological systems such as, for instance, modern factories. Methods of the traditional system engineering have been challenged in capturing of SoS specific nature like evolving requirements, ambulatory boundaries, decentralization, and other. In order to analyze, simulate and modify such kind of systems, there should be developed modeling methods and tools which would be capable to encompass the SoS specific properties. The aim of this work was to propose a computational method to model SoS, which could be further applied to the description and simulation of the highly distributed, heterogeneous, and networked production systems of the future. It was concluded that the proposed approach is able to provide the static and dynamic descriptions of the SoS-components and the communication between them in detailed yet relatively simple mode. For further maturing of the approach and with order to prove the applicability of the method proposed, next steps will be implemented: the method will be tested on a tesbed of a production line, and then a modeling of a real use case from the domain of manufacturing is preplanned.