A unifying framework for systems modeling, control systems design, and system operation

Current engineering practice in the analysis and design of large-scale multi-disciplinary control systems is typified by some form of decomposition - whether functional or physical or discipline-based - that enables multiple teams to work in parallel and in relative isolation. Too often, the resulting system after integration is an awkward marriage of different control and data mechanisms with poor end-to-end accountability. System of systems engineering, which faces this problem on a large scale, cries out for a unifying framework to guide analysis, design, and operation. This paper describes such a framework for semi-autonomous control systems that guides analysis and modeling, shapes control system software design, and directly specifies operational intent. This paper illustrates the key concepts in the context of a large-scale, concurrent, globally distributed system of systems: NASA's proposed array-based Deep Space Network.