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Systems of systems (SoS) leverage dynamic configuration of independent systems to achieve a capability neither of the independent constituent systems can achieve on their own. Therefore, SoS engineering goes beyond addressing requirements to addressing capabilities. Due to the independence of the constituent systems, capability is formed by complex interdependence of legacy systems. It is also subject to uncertainty of the evolutionary development of the SoS, making it important to not only see the bigger picture but to plan for the changing capability patterns in the life of an SoS. This study looks at the body of knowledge surrounding definitions, support systems and practices around the concept of capability in the context of SoS. The results show; context dependent nature of the definition of capability, country-specific support systems, ongoing efforts to form more robust frameworks and dominant establishment of this theme in the defense sector.

This study presents a core ontology for missions and capabilities in systems of systems. The aim of the study is to create artifacts that facilitate precise understanding of fundamental concepts of SoS. An ontological approach proposes and develops taxonomic homogeneity and structural knowledge of SoS. The ontology development process involved workshop sessions with industry experts and meta modelling of the different concepts and their relationships. The ontology includes thirteen concepts of types physical things, people, information and mixed. These concepts are defined and their relations are briefly described. The developed ontology is further illustrated using a wildfire scenario case study.

This study explores how a core ontology for missions and capabilities in systems of systems supports basic and fundamental decisions related to development and operations of systems of systems. The study is based on a previously developed core ontology for mission and capability in the context of systems of systems. From the relationships in the core ontology concepts, this study extracts fundamental design and operational decisions. These decisions are compiled into a preliminary guideline aimed at assessing the feasibility of systems of systems. This compilation uses Kipling's six honest serving men's reasoning to support clustering of decisions based on their intended outcome. The study identifies categories of generic constraints that affect these decisions. The overall aim is that the clustered decisions and the constraint categories should trigger different points of views for designers and operators as they envision their systems of systems and constituent systems. The preliminary guideline developed is then used to illustrate a road paving system, and different ways of using the guideline are discussed. The tool demonstrates flexibility, therefore setting a good starting point for brainstorming and exploration of systems of systems design and operations.

This study is exploratory research aimed at evaluating a core ontology for missions and capabilities in systems of systems (SoS). The core ontology is an artifact that relates capabilities and missions into a holistic view of the SoS. This ontology is an effort towards improving the conceptual understanding of SoS, and how the desired outcome of the SoS is achieved through purposeful allocation of capabilities in mission contexts. The purpose of this evaluation study is to check the coherence of the core ontology artifact. Therefore, the study is designed to generate insight, understand the patterns of ideas and associations in the ontology artifact. It employs a survey research method and the use of questionnaire and interview tools for data collection. This study covers some aspects of the FOCA methodology for ontology evaluation. The FOCA methodology implements a goal-questionmetric process where the goals reflect the objective of knowledge representation, the questions justify the knowledge representation roles, and the metrics are the quality criteria of the respective goals. The paper also reflects on the experiences of ontology evaluation in general. The outcome of this study will provide a foundation for improvements and further research on ontologies and related artifacts that support the exploration of SoS.