System of systems: Definitions and simulation modeling

Most of today's companies are looking for system integration as a main part of constructing their business strategy. This is driven by the market demand for multi-use equipment and solutions. As the interaction and communications between systems became a necessity to reach certain objectives, a new concept commonly described as system of systems (SoS) started to emerge. In this paper, a literature review is conducted to investigate the most common definitions associated to this concept. Essential characteristics are identified and additional desirable characteristics are proposed. Grid computing and distributed simulation are computing platforms that can provide a good way to represent systems of systems. We illustrate through a simplified supply chain scenario how the High Level Architecture (HLA) along with distributed simulation could be used to model SoS.