Re-framing “the AMN”: A case study eliciting and modelling a System of Systems using the Afghan Mission Network

The term System of Systems (SoS) is often used to classify an arrangement of independent and interdependent systems delivering unique capabilities. There appear to be many examples of SoSs, but the term has become a source of confusion. While many approaches have been proposed for engineering SoSs, there are few illustrative examples demonstrating their initial classification and resulting SoS structure. This paper presents an approach for framing a candidate SoS using the Afghan Mission Network defined as an Acknowledged SoS, and presents issues associated with SoSs stakeholders, human factors and interoperability considerations resulting from such an approach.