Systems of systems engineering: A research imperative

Systems of Systems Engineering constitutes a major challenge for the 21st Century and research into this topic has become an imperative. The Support Action, T-AREA-SoS has been initiated by the European Commission to develop a research agenda in Systems of Systems (SoS) that will inform future investment in this area. Through an extensive consultation and review, a number of SoS capability gaps have been identified. Through structuring and subsequent consultation, these have been developed into twelve research themes the detailed areas of which are mapped to the three SoS characteristics of control, evolution, and emergent behaviour. A framework is presented through which researchers can develop a research campaign in SoS. © 2013 IEEE.