Human Systems Integration - A System of Systems Engineenng Challenge

The relationships of systems to humans in the loop and the effectiveness of humans to catty out a mission in that context continue to be problematic. In the system-of-systems (SoS) context, the human is the key enabler in using SoS as opposed to the stove-piped systems of the past. Single purpose systems were performance-optimized and tightly integrated to focus on single capability or mission-specific goals, rather than agility that can accommodate changing human needs as they are challenged by new and asymmetric threats. The SoS engineering discipline must consider a broader set of skills in order to tackle the human-in-the-loop as a prime design variable. The focus will be on human system integration at the cognitive and social level of interaction within and among systems. This presentation will present some observations on where we are and where we may have to go in order to tackle these multidimensional problems using enterprise engineering as an extension of system engineering.