Identification of Emergent Properties Occurrences Factors in System-of-Systems

Systems-of-systems (SoS) is a term used to describe independent systems that collaborate to accomplish a task they are unable to complete separately. One of the challenges of developing SoS is to manage the emergent properties that arise from the interaction of independent systems. The emergent properties can be desirable or undesirable. It is important to comprehend the undesirable emergent properties by foreseeing them before they manifest due to potentially adverse effects. Identifying and anticipating them as soon as they appear to minimize any adverse effects is crucial. Notwithstanding the thorough research and efforts, undesirable emergent behavior continues to appear in SoS. Such emergent properties are essential to prevent the SoS from deviating from its intended requirements and objectives. One way to understand the emergent properties is to examine the factors that influence their occurrence. Therefore, a study has been conducted to identify factors of undesirable emergence properties in SoS across different phases of the software development lifecycle. The identified factors could further derive solutions for overcoming the challenges of undesirable emergent properties in SoS. Hence, SoS can have long lifespans as each constituent system evolves.

I. Introduction

System-of-systems (SoS) are evolutionarily developed from self-contained systems to achieve a mission that cannot be accomplished by an individual system alone [1]. For instance, extinguishing a fire requires the interaction of multiple individual systems including fire engine assignment, information sharing, communication, and fire brigade management. The individual systems may have existed before the requirements for collaboration. Thereafter, SoS is expanding bigger as an interoperating collection of component systems with hardware, software, processes, procedures, facilities, and entities to achieve greater functionality [2].