Dominique Luzeaux & Jean-René Ruault 
Systems of Systems 

In recent years, the systems designed to support activity in the
fields of banking, health, transportation, space, aeronautics,
defense, etc. have become increasingly larger and more complex.
With the growing maturity of information and communication
technologies, systems have been interconnected within growing
networks, yielding new capabilities and services through the
combination of system functionalities. This has led to a further
increasing complexity that has to be managed in order to take
advantage of these system integrations.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part
addresses the concept and practical illustrations of a
‘system of systems’ and is a multidisciplinary
introduction to the notion of a ‘systems of systems’
that is discussed extensively in the current scientific and
technical literature. After a critical comparison of the different
definitions and a range of various practical illustrations, this
part provides answers to key questions such as what a system of
systems is and how its complexity can be mastered. The
second part, described as ‘systems-of-systems engineering:
methods and tools’, focuses on both engineering and modeling,
and standardization issues that are critical to deal with the key
steps in systems of systems engineering: namely eliciting
stakeholder needs, architecture optimization, integration of
constituent systems, qualification, and utilization.

About the author

Dominique Luzeaux graduated from École Polytechnique (1987), École Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées (1989), completed a Ph D from University Paris XI (1991) and a Faculty Habilitation in 2001. He has been employed by the Ministry of Defense for over 20 years. He was Director of the Complex System Engineering Department from 2002 to 2004, and Chief Information Officer from 2005 to 2007. He is currently Deputy Director of the service in charge of the C4ISR (Computerized Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) programs. He has written over 60 articles in international conferences and journals, and teaches robotics, theoretical computer science and system engineering at graduate level. He has co-authored a book on nanotechnology and Microsystems published in 2007 by Éditions du Félin.

Jean-René Ruault completed a master degree in experimental social psychology, and a graduate-level training in industrial engineering. After over 10 years as a consultant on software engineering and human-computer interaction, he was hired in 2004 by the Ministry of Defense as an expert in systems engineering, standardization and human factors. He has published several articles on system engineering and human-computer interactions, and was co-chairman of the ERGO-IA’06 conference.