The role of human factors in addressing Systems of Systems complexity

Systems of Systems (SoS) can be described as a class of complex systems whose constituents are, themselves, complex [1]. They are characterised [2] as being composed of many heterogeneous systems that are geographically distributed; independently managed and/or operated; evolve over time; and exhibit emergent behaviour. There is a need to better understand the enterprise nature of the domains (e.g. defence, utilities, and transport) to enable human participants in such systems to cope more effectively with the increase in complexity that SoS imply. Current methods and approaches in Human Factors (HF) are inadequate in addressing SoS aspects associated with technical and organisational complexity. In this paper we argue that there is an urgent need to develop HF capabilities as a key mechanism for coping with the complexity of SoS.