SApHESIA: An agent-based model and a criticality-based heuristic for cooperatively coupling SoSs

Abstract Problems to solve nowadays have never been so complex and are continuously increasing in complexity. In this context Systems of Systems (SoS) may be a solution but the study of such systems is far from over. An SoS is a complex system characterized by the particular nature of its components: the latter, which are systems, tend to be managerially and operationally independent as well as geographically distributed. This specific characterization led to re-think research fields of classic systems engineering, such as definition, taxonomy, modelling, architecting, etc. SoS architecting focuses on the way independent components of an SoS can be dynamically structured and can autonomously and efficiently modify their interactions in order to fulfil the goal of the SoS and to cope with the high dynamics of the environment. This paper contributes to the multi-agent and SoS research fields by proposing a new generic SoS model called SApHESIA which considers the SoS main characteristics found in the literature and extends the notion of environment and interactions between component systems. It also proposes a new SoS architecting procedure based on the Adaptive Multi-Agent System (AMAS) approach that advocates full cooperation between all the components of the SoS through the concept of criticality. This criticality is a measure, local to each component, expressing its difficulties to reach its local goals. In this procedure, the SoS architecture evolves to self-adapt to the dynamics of the environment in which it is plunged, while considering the respective local goals of its components. An instantiation of SApHESIA to two distinct cases studies from different domains (logistics and exploratory missions) is done to obtain two SoSs. These two SoS are then coupled to form a new SoS at an upper level. Evaluations of these SoSs show that their cooperation make each of them more efficient.