Social Systems Engineering for Achieving Cyber Physical‐Social System Multi‐Concern Assurance

Abstract

AbstractNovel technologies and cyber innovations applied to physical control system infrastructures such as power, water, wastewater, and dams are about to change the world, not just for short‐term profits but also for broader societal interest. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is an example of constructing one of the largest physical control system infrastructures today, creating a reservoir on the Blue Nile to supply electricity to Ethiopia and support the country's societal development. GERD has also created discord with neighboring downstream countries Egypt and Sudan, whose economies depend on the Blue Nile. Internet Protocol (IP)‐connected control systems of the GERD infrastructure make operations vulnerable to cyber failure. Uncertainty of agreement among professionals about cybersecurity and system security engineering coupled with unpredictable social and political developments and uncertainty of the technologies themselves make these systems and societies interacting with the systems more vulnerable to disruption. There are many ways advances in systems sciences and digital engineering converge with the systems engineering (SE) discipline. Such advances require cultural and systems engineering process and methodology changes to support the digital transformation of physical systems. Societal benefits and vulnerabilities to these advances illustrate the value of social systems engineering models and methodologies for measuring the uncertainty of agreement for achieving control physical‐social system multi‐concern assurance.