Title: Perspective 1 of the SoSE methodology: framing the system under study

Authors: Kevin MacG. Adams, Thomas J. Meyers

Addresses: National Centers for System of Systems Engineering, Old Dominion University, 4111 Monarch Way, Suite 406, Norfolk, Virginia, USA. ' National Centers for System of Systems Engineering, Old Dominion University, 4111 Monarch Way, Suite 406, Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Abstract: The first perspective in the system of systems engineering (SoSE) methodology is to ensure that the engineering analysis is supported by an explicit understanding and framing of the problem under study. By explicitly framing the problem and its associated context, the SoSE methodology minimises the chance of a Type III error (i.e., correctly rejects the null hypothesis for the wrong reason) committed at study|s outset. This paper addresses the methodology|s Perspective 1, framing the system under study, and the nine component execution elements serving to operationalise it. The paper will illustrate those elements as tools with which SoS problems may be framed in terms of their most prominent contextual and environmental influences.

Keywords: system theory; systems thinking; system of systems; SoS; system of systems engineering; SoSE; framing the system.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSE.2011.040552

International Journal of System of Systems Engineering, 2011 Vol.2 No.2/3, pp.163 - 192

Published online: 16 Oct 2014 *

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