The US Ballistic Missile Defense System: A Case Study in Architecting Systems-of-Systems

摘要

Systems-of-Systems (SoS) engineering for modern complex systems is one of the most difficult challenges facing today's engineer. This paper provides a detailed case study of architecting for a major modern SoS: the US Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). The BMDS is a massive SoS that encompasses several existing and new missile defense programs on a variety of platforms covering most of the world. This paper includes a review of currently defined practices for architecting SoS, a discussion of how the BMDS was architected, and then suggestions for architecting future additions to the program.