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Through a Glass, Darkly? Taking a Network Perspective on System-of-Systems Architectures

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Complex Systems Design & Management (CSD&M 2018)

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Abstract

A system-of-systems architecture can be thought of as a complex network comprising a set of entities of different types, connected together by a set of relationships, also of different types. A systems architect might attempt to make use of the analytic tools associated with network science when evaluating such architectures, anticipating that taking a “network perspective” might offer insights into their structure. However, taking a network perspective on real-world system-of-systems architectures is fraught with challenges. The relationship between the architecture and a network representation can be overly simplistic, meaning that network-theoretic models can struggle to respect, inter alia, the heterogeneity of system entities and their relationships, the richness of their behavior, and the vital role of context in an architecture. A more mature conceptualization of the relationship between architectures and their network representations is required before the lens of network science can offer a usefully clear view of architecture properties.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol, Faculty of Engineering, Bristol, UK

    Matthew Potts, Pia Sartor & Seth Bullock

  2. Thales Research and Technology UK, Reading, UK

    Angus Johnson

Authors
  1. Matthew Potts
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  2. Pia Sartor
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  3. Angus Johnson
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  4. Seth Bullock
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew Potts .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Lorraine, Laxou, France

    Eric Bonjour

  2. CESAMES, Paris, France

    Daniel Krob

  3. Safran, Magny Les Hameaux, France

    Luca Palladino

  4. Be-Bound, Marnes La Coquette, France

    François Stephan

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Potts, M., Sartor, P., Johnson, A., Bullock, S. (2019). Through a Glass, Darkly? Taking a Network Perspective on System-of-Systems Architectures. In: Bonjour, E., Krob, D., Palladino, L., Stephan, F. (eds) Complex Systems Design & Management. CSD&M 2018. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04209-7_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04209-7_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04208-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04209-7

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