Industry Voices on Software Engineering Challenges in Dynamic Systems of Systems

In order to achieve the required change of systems with regard to sustainable development goals, systems from different sectors such as energy, agriculture, mobility, and production must be transformed, foremost in a digital way. The resulting systems are called Systems of Systems (SoSs). Software and systems engineering can make contributions to the necessary transformation of these systems. SoSs that are characterized by special dynamics (e.g., more frequent context changes) are referred to as dynamic SoSs (dynaSoS). Currently, there are still many open questions and challenges in their design and realization. In order to get an overview of these, in this paper we present a survey that was executed within the context of the project “DynaSoS”. For this purpose, qualitative interviews were conducted with experts in software and SoS engineering from industry and academia. Based on the statements received, 36 challenges were grouped and prioritized in several workshops. This report provides an overview of ten central software engineering issues and research challenges in the realization of dynaSoS and aims to contribute to a better understanding of the application-oriented challenges facing industry.