Examining Survivability of Systems of Systems

Abstract

Previous research has identified design principles that enable survivability for systems, but it is unclear if these principles are appropriate and sufficient for systems of systems as well. This paper presents a preliminary examination of how some of the characteristic properties of systems of systems may enable or hinder survivability, based on existing design principles and a newly proposed taxonomy of disturbances. Two new design principles, defensive posture and adaptation, are introduced. The next phase of research will be to conduct empirical studies to validate the design principles against some of the characteristic properties of systems of systems, and test hypotheses about how survivability will be affected.