Complexity and the notion of system of systems: Part (II): defining the notion of system of systems

This paper follows Part (I) on the development of the system notion and deals with the notion of System of Systems (SoS). Many definitions have emerged, most of them depending on the characteristics of the domain where this notion is linked. This paper considers the notion of SoS as an evolution of the standard notion of systems and aims to provide a definition that is detached from the particular domain. We deal first with the fundamental components of the system, describe the different aspects of the structure of a composite system and then we provide an explanation of the difference of the new notion, to the standard notion of Composite Systems. We present a new abstract definition of the notion of SoS as an evolution of the notion of Composite Systems, empowered by the concept of autonomy and participation in tasks usually linked to games. This is a development of the Composite System notion where now the subsystems act as autonomous intelligent agents in a multi-agent system that is defined by a central task and possibly a game.