Abstract
AbstractDespite a wealth of system architecture frameworks and methodologies available, approaches to evaluate the robustness and resiliency of architectures for complex systems or systems of systems are few in number. As a result, system architects may turn to graph‐theoretic methods to assess architecture robustness and vulnerability to cascading failure. Here, we explore the application of such methods to the analysis of two real‐world system architectures (a military communications system and a search and rescue system). Both architectures are found to be relatively robust to random vertex removal but more vulnerable to targeted vertex removal. Hardening strategies for limiting the extent of cascading failure are demonstrated to have varying degrees of effectiveness. However, in taking a network perspective on architecture robustness and susceptibility to cascade failure, we find several significant challenges that impede the straightforward use of graph‐theoretic methods. Most fundamentally, the conceptualization of failure dynamics across heterogeneous architectural entities requires considerable further investigation.
Highlights
IntroductionWhile the resilience of a system is centered on the anticipation, survival, and recovery from internal and external threats,[12] robustness is the constituent term relating to the system’s ability to remain unchanged in the face of some assault or change
The result implies that system architects concerned with the robustness of these architectures should pay particular attention to the architectural entities that are well connected, as their removal has a significant impact on the overall connectivity of the architecture, which under the modeling assumptions here relates to the effectiveness of the System of Systems (SoS)
We return to the worked example to discuss how the findings can inform system architecture evaluation, where an organization examining architectural alternatives may consider the overall robustness of candidate architectures by comparing the impact of random and targeted vertex removal on network representations of their architectures
Summary
While the resilience of a system is centered on the anticipation, survival, and recovery from internal and external threats,[12] robustness is the constituent term relating to the system’s ability to remain unchanged in the face of some assault or change. The identification of system robustness can be critical, and the failure to do so can have serious, life-threatening consequences. The partial collapse of the Ronan Point apartment tower in 1968 in London, had consequences that far outweigh the initiating damage sustained. A gas explosion caused damage to load-bearing walls, which resulted in the collapse of one entire corner of the building, killing four people and injuring 17.13 While building codes have since been updated to ensure improved robustness of built structures themselves,[13] the robustness and resilience of the wider systems within which such built structures
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