Complex System Classification

摘要

The use of terms such as “Engineering Systems”, “System of systems” and others havernbeen coming into greater use over the past decade to denote systems of importance butrnwith implied higher complexity than for the term systems alone. This paper searches for arnuseful taxonomy or classification scheme for complex Systems. There are two aspects tornthis problem: 1) distinguishing between Engineering Systems (the term we use) and otherrnSystems, and 2) differentiating among Engineering Systems. Engineering Systems arernfound to be differentiated from other complex systems by being human-designed andrnhaving both significant human complexity as well as significant technical complexity. Asrnfar as differentiating among various engineering systems, it is suggested that functionalrntype is the most useful attribute for classification differentiation. Information, energy,rnvalue and mass acted upon by various processes are the foundation concepts underlyingrnthe technical types.