A Model-Driven Approach to Systems-of-Systems Engineering

Traditional engineering aims to solve problems by building, operating, maintaining and retiring systems of various kinds. However, problems usually emerge within dynamically complex environments of co-evolving technology, people, processes and other problems. Because of this, individual problems are often difficult to isolate and independently solve. It is generally accepted that these dynamically complex sets of interacting problems, or Problem Situations, are best dealt with by improving the whole rather than by attempting to solve individual problems. In recent years our research group has been thinking about the nature of engineering within such environments and has developed Aspect-Oriented Thinking (AOT): a novel model-driven engineering approach to continuous learning and improvement within dynamically complex environments. In this paper I provide an overview of AOT and show how it might form the foundation of an effective systems-of-systems engineering methodology.