6.5.1 I⁵: A Model‐Based Framework for Architecting System‐of‐Systems Interoperability, Interconnectivity, Interfacing, Integration, and Interaction

Abstract

We present I 5 -Interoperability, Interconnectivity, Interfacing, Integration, and Interactiona Model-Based Framework for Architecting Systems-of-Systems. Interoperability programs deliver end-to-end cooperation and collaboration capabilities and services among organizations, users, systems, and infrastructures, on top of a set of existing systems. Each system has its own programmatic and technical constraints and issues. System-level stakeholders usually prefer core functionality over integration, and expect the interconnectivity infrastructure to be transparent and simple, regardless of its actual cost, complexity, or criticality. Hence, coordinating and aligning the multiple system and team efforts in order to reach a synergetic effect is a challenge that many integration professionals in the cyber, energy, manufacturing, and traffic domains are familiar with. Traditional system-centered design methods fail to capture interconnectivity and collaboration aspects and issues, and they are of little interest to the individual systems' stakeholders. The framework we propose is based on Object-Process Methodology, an emerging ISO standard (ISO 19450) for modeling and design of complex, dynamic, and multidisciplinary systems. Our framework facilitates a smooth transition from a set of disparate system-centered views to a consolidated, integrated model, which accounts for integration aspects, interface and payload structure and behavior, interconnectivity processes and services, and eventually emergent interoperability capabilities.

Understanding the importance of expanding the definition of interoperability through social network analysis

“…A majority of the literature focuses on this aspect of interoperability and the ability to model information flows between systems or components of systems . Mordecai and Dori expand beyond this definition slightly as they discuss information exchanges and payloads but they focus on model‐based architecture for information flows . Fry and DeLaurentis discuss interoperability in terms of openness and accessibility to information flows and methods for modeling these interactions .…”

Interface modeling for product‐service system integration

“…Integrating independent systems into an interoperable SoS is challenging . SoS integration “involves interfacing and enabling the interactions of component systems to create the needed SoS capability to accomplish a mission or business goals.” Interoperability in SoS is defined as “the ability of distinct systems to share semantically compatible information and then process and manage the information in semantically compatible ways, enabling users to perform desired tasks.” According to the literature in interface management, “ensuring interface compatibility is the process of identifying all functional and physical characteristics of interacting entities from different organizations, and ensuring that proposed changes to these characteristics are assessed and approved before implementation.” A “multidisciplinary interface represents the logical or physical relationship integrating the components” of the system …”

2.2.2 Maintaining Emergence in Systems of Systems Integration: a Contractual Approach using SysML

“…Related work in this area including service-oriented computing and component-based software techniques such as system integration, is surveyed more comprehensively in (Bryans, Payne et al 2013). (Mordecai and Dori 2013) also aim to develop a model-based approach to the design of interfaces and interactions among disparate systems. They seek to ensure interoperability of the SoS by developing a framework for integration in which the integration domain is a treated as a system in its own right.…”

“…The task of the SoS integrator is formidable, and "SoS integration can be a complex, risky, long, and frustrating effort" (Mordecai and Dori 2013). In developing a new SoS, an integrator must have the ability to determine that the combination of proposed contracts and interfaces leads to the desired emergent behavior.…”