Multi-Dimensional Classification of System-of-Systems

An increasing number of application domains have to deal with system-of-systems (SoS) with the purpose to design or integrate a number of systems to create value that cannot be obtained from single systems alone. Although there seems to be a general understanding of what an SoS is, different types of SoS appear to be needed for different contexts. A number of studies have distinguished these different types of SoS and proposed various classifications. In general, though, each study proposes a classification from a particular, fixed perspective, which as such leads to a limited view of the SoS. This paper proposes a novel multi-dimensional classification approach that builds on and enhances the reported existing classifications. In contrast to previous studies, a multidimensional classification of SoS is presented that has been derived after a thorough domain analysis process. The multidimensional classification is represented as a feature diagram that defines seven perspectives, with a total of 26 different types of SoSs, from which multiple different configuration types can be derived.