System of systems engineering (SoSE) is a set of developing processes, tools, and methods for designing, re-designing and deploying solutions to system-of-systems challenges.
System of Systems Engineering (SoSE) methodology is heavily used in U.S. Department of Defense applications, but is increasingly being applied to non-defense related problems such as architectural design of problems in air and auto transportation, healthcare, global communication networks, search and rescue, space exploration, industry 4.0[1] and many other System of Systems application domains.
SoSE should enable the decision-makers to understand the implications of various choices on technical performance, costs, extensibility and flexibility over time; thus, effective SoSE methodology should prepare decision-makers to design informed architectural solutions for System-of-Systems problems.
Due to varied methodology and domains of applications in existing literature, there does not exist a single unified consensus for processes involved in System-of-Systems Engineering.
One of the proposed SoSE frameworks, by Dr. Daniel A. DeLaurentis, recommends a three-phase method where a SoS problem is defined (understood), abstracted, modeled and analyzed for behavioral patterns.