Capability-driven Formulation of System of Systems Core Competencies

Our work is concerned with the formulation of sound and reusable metrics for effective characterization and analysis of System of Systems (SoS). This has been an impediment to the ability for SoS designers and analysts to gain effective understanding of SoS attributes, especially the core competencies i.e., autonomy, connectivity and belonging as per the Boardman-Sauser theory of SoS. Consequently, there is a strong need for mechanisms and approaches to leverage SoS theoretical results and formalisms for effective and rigorous characterization of SoS as well as engineering modeling and analysis across a wide range of application domains. Accordingly, this paper introduces a novel capability-driven formulation of SoS core competencies. Boardman-Sauser based theoretical foundations are refined and extended to account for the central role capabilities of component systems play in, (1) enabling the realization of needed SoS capabilities for given missions and, (2) driving the formulation and evaluation of SoS core competencies. Detailed process, functions and metrics are described for characterizing autonomy. A system dynamic prototype implementation is created to illustrate the approach in a simplified case study involving unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) configured as a Directed SoS for a wildfire fighting mission.