10.4.2 System Integration Frameworks

Abstract

An organizations ability to effectively create, deploy and use system integration frameworks is a discriminating technical capability which will continue to grow in importance for the design, development and deployment of future engineered systems. Engineering activities utilized in large‐scale systems integration processes are strongly associated with organized problem solving and complexity reduction. This paper outlines the relationships between systems, meta‐systems, and integration frameworks as well as complexity measures, reduction and management. The primary thesis of this paper relates to the design and use of integration frameworks as a fundamental means of complexity reduction. A system “abstraction frame” concept is presented and related to classical systems engineering mathematics and practices. A proposal for a systems engineering language completes the content of this paper. A formal systems engineering language will greatly reduce complexity in the practice of systems engineering, as well as facilitate the solution of even more complex problems.

System of systems: Power and paradox

“…The objects that make up a system must exist before the system can be assembled. The abstraction frame concept was developed to encapsulate the flow of time in one specific context [3]. There can be multiple, concurrent abstraction frames active in any given system development.…”

Foundational Systems Engineering (SE) Patterns for a SE Pattern Language

“…Context, Concept, Functions, Requirements, Architectures and Tests (CCFRAT). By emphasizing the system boundary, the CCFRAT pattern, briefly described in Figure 10, focuses on external system forces in the context portion, and focuses on the internal system forces in the concept portion (Simpson and Simpson, 2005). Context is the outward looking boundary of the system and is set by the value constraints imposed by the environment system and the production system.…”

“…Figure 12, adapted from Warfield (1990), is a notional depiction that moves from an informal type of connectivity to a formal one. Simpson and Simpson (2005) indicated that "the set of system meta-levels and meta-level transforms must be formalized in a structured fashion to support the development of a systems engineering language." Concept Map Style.…”

“…This complex SE pattern relationship style provides specific areas for discovery patterns, knowledge patterns, design patterns and system patterns encapsulated in a set of sequential logic frames. The system abstraction framework shown in Figure 17 was developed and described by Simpson and Simpson (2005). This type of relationship supports the development of a pattern language to express both concurrent and sequential types of relationships between the selected SE patterns.…”

“…Forces articulate the tensions or key drivers that influence the application of a given pattern. Context reflects the meta-system abstraction frame, and is set by the environment system and the production system (Simpson and Simpson 2005). Related patterns are those patterns that may be connected in some way to the current pattern.…”