A collaboration policy model for system of systems

Abstract

A system of systems (SoS) is a complex system. In SoS, autonomous systems join up together and form a system i.e. SoS, which has a distinguished purpose or goal to achieve. Each system in SoS has its own objective and implementation strategies. Without a policy, it is likely that each individual system will implement their local priorities, which can lead to unsynchronized operations and unpredictable outcomes. Hence, defining a policy which aims at providing the necessary degree of coordination of constituent systems’ interactions is a vital requirement for SoS. For this purpose, we propose a top-down approach of collaboration policy modeling. A collaboration policy can be defined as a set of rules that enable constituent systems to work together, or guide interactions of constituent systems towards a common goal. In this work, we present how SoS policy rules can be extracted from the SoS goal using GSN and KAOS patterns. We also introduce a simple annotation technique to determine rules prerequisite relationships. We propose a generic and extensible collaboration policy model incorporating important SoS characteristics. To demonstrate applicability of the proposed collaboration policy model, we present collaboration policy model for an emergency response system of systems application.