Flavio Oquendo

The state of the art and future perspectives in systems of systems software architectures

Currently, software systems have become increasingly large and complex, often resulted by the integration of several operationally independent systems, resulting in a new class of systems: the Systems of Systems (SoS). In another perspective, software architectures play a major role in determining system quality, since they form the backbone of any successful software-intensive system. Attention given to the software architectures of SoS is also certainly fundamental to the success of such systems. However, it is observed that there is a lack of works that present a wide and, at the same time, a detailed panorama about how SoS architectures have been treated. In this scenario, the main contribution of this paper is to present the state of the art on software architectures of SoS, mainly regarding their development, representation, evaluation, and evolution. This work also contributes with future research topics on SoS architectures that should be still investigated. Besides that, we intend this paper opens new perspectives of research in the software architecture area, intending to contribute to the success of SoS.

Systems-of-systems development: Initiatives, trends, and challenges

Systems-of-Systems (SoS) refer to large, complex, and software-intensive systems, resulted from the interoperability among heterogeneous, independent constituent systems. The main purpose of SoS is to perform tasks that could not be achieved by these constituents separately; besides, unique SoS characteristics impose new challenges to their development processes. We conducted a Systematic Mapping to identify initiatives, trends, and challenges in the SoS development and, as a result, 32 initiatives were identified. We also evaluated these initiatives with regard to the adherence to the technical processes of IEEE/ISO/IEC 15288:2015 and to the software implementation essential processes of IEEE/ISO/IEC 12207:2008. In general, these initiatives emphasize artifacts in the early stages of the development processes, addressing mainly requirements and architecture. Moreover, 17 of them emphasize the testing activity. We also summarized the SoS characteristics addressed in the studies and discuss the main trends and challenges.

Towards a Conceptual Model for Software-Intensive System-of-Systems

Software systems have become increasingly large and complex, often resulting from the integration of several operationally independent systems, thus leading to a new class of systems called Systems-of-Systems (SoS). Moreover, SoS have currently become essentially software-dependent systems, thus arising the Software-intensive Systems-of-Systems (SiSoS). However, in spite of their relevance, there is a lack of a common understanding of what exactly SiSoS are, their characteristics and types, as well as other elements that surround them. In this context, the main contribution of this work is to provide a conceptual model that provides a comprehensive understanding about them. For this purpose, we have extended the ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 International Standard by considering related studies and previous taxonomies about SoS. In order to illustrate the use of our model, two software-intensive systems were analyzed and discussed. By establishing a common understanding about SiSoS, results achieved until now have showed us that this model can provide an important support to the research on SiSoS and, as a consequence, it can contribute to the development of these systems.

Perspectives and challenges of reference architectures in multi software product line

Multi Software Product Line (MSPL or simply Multi Product Line - MPL) has recently emerged as a new approach to develop software systems, mainly those large, complex ones. This approach can be investigated to the development of Systems-of-Systems (SoS), i.e., a new class of software systems that are resulted by the integration of several operationally independent systems. In another perspective, a special type of architecture that contains knowledge about a specific domain has been increasingly investigated, resulting in the research area of Reference Architecture. In this context, the main motivation of this paper is that, in spite of the positive impact of this type of architecture on reuse and productivity, the use of the knowledge contained in existing reference architectures in order to develop MPL, specially to develop SoS, has not been widely explored yet. In this scenario, the main objective of this paper is to present a set of perspectives and challenges of research to use reference architectures in the context of MPL. For this, we have based on our previous experience as well as the literature of SPL, SoS, and reference architecture. As result, we have observed that reference architectures together with MPL seems to be a quite promising research topic. To conclude, we also intend this paper can identify new required research in this context, contributing to improve reuse and productivity in MPL.

A Systematic Literature Review on Knowledge Representation Approaches for Systems-of-Systems

Systems-of-Systems are a class of systems composed of diverse, independent constituent systems. Together, these constituents can accomplish missions that otherwise could not be performed by any of them separately. In another perspective, knowledge representation approaches can assist in the establishment of a common understanding in this field by formalizing and standardizing the main terms and concepts adopted. In spite of the relevance of SoS, a consolidated terminology which could support the community working with such systems is still missing. Furthermore, the multiplicity of stakeholders, technologies, and expertise involved in an SoS makes the need of a common understanding even more imperative. In this study, we report on the main findings of a systematic literature review covering knowledge representation approaches in the SoS field. With this study, we are able to present a comprehensive panorama of the knowledge representation approaches that are currently adopted. Even though a consolidated terminology is not available yet, such panorama can be helpful for devising a common, comprehensive terminology for the SoS field. Therefore, we conclude this paper with directions for future work.

Joint 5th International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and 11th Workshop on Distributed Software Development, Software Ecosystems and Systems-of-

Welcome to SESoS/WDES 2017, the ICSE Joint 5th International Workshop on Software Engineering for Systems-of-Systems and 11th Workshop on Distributed Software Development, Software Ecosystems and Systems-of-Systems, held on May 23rd in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and co-located with the 39th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2017). This joint workshop encompassing SESoS and WDES intends to put together researchers and practitioners of Systems-of-Systems (SoS), Software Ecosystems (SECO), and Distributed Software Development (DSD), aiming at discussing research in each of these areas as well as promoting interaction and integration among these areas, which are to some extent closely related, but sometimes individually investigated, to support the development and evolution of complex software systems.