Today’s need for more complex, capable
systems in a short timeframe is leading many organizations
towards the integration of existing systems into networkcentric,
knowledge-based system-of-systems (SoS).
Software and system cost model tools to date have focused
on the software and system development activities of a
single system. When viewing the new SoS architectures,
one finds that the effort associated with the design and
integration of these SoSs is not handled well, if at all, in
current cost models. This paper includes (1) a comparison
of various SoS definitions and concepts with respect to cost
models, (2) a classification of these definitions in terms of
product, process, and personnel focus, and (3) the
definition of a set of discriminators for defining model
boundaries and potential drivers for an SoS cost estimation
model. Eleven SoS definitions are synthesized to provide
reasonable coverage for different properties of SoS and
illustrated in two examples
