In recent years, the systems designed to support activity in the fields of banking, health, transportation, space, aeronautics, defense, etc. have become increasingly larger and more complex. With the growing maturity of information and communication technologies, systems have been interconnected within growing networks, yielding new capabilities and services through the combination of system functionalities. This has led to a further increasing complexity that has to be managed in order to take advantage of these system integrations.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part addresses the concept and practical illustrations of a "system of systems" and is a multidisciplinary introduction to the notion of a "systems of systems" that is discussed extensively in the current scientific and technical literature. After a critical comparison of the different definitions and a range of various practical illustrations, this part provides answers to key questions such as what a system of systems is and how its complexity can be mastered. The second part, described as "systems-of-systems engineering: methods and tools", focuses on both engineering and modeling, and standardization issues that are critical to deal with the key steps in systems of systems engineering: namely eliciting stakeholder needs, architecture optimization, integration of constituent systems, qualification, and utilization.

Dominique Luzeaux graduated from École Polytechnique (1987), École Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées (1989), completed a PhD from University Paris XI (1991) and a Faculty Habilitation in 2001. He has been employed by the Ministry of Defense for over 20 years. He was Director of the Complex System Engineering Department from 2002 to 2004, and Chief Information Officer from 2005 to 2007. He is currently Deputy Director of the service in charge of the C4ISR (Computerized Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) programs. He has written over 60 articles in international conferences and journals, and teaches robotics, theoretical computer science and system engineering at graduate level. He has co-authored a book on nanotechnology and Microsystems published in 2007 by Éditions du Félin.

Jean-René Ruault completed a master degree in experimental social psychology, and a graduate-level training in industrial engineering. After over 10 years as a consultant on software engineering and human-computer interaction, he was hired in 2004 by the Ministry of Defense as an expert in systems engineering, standardization and human factors. He has published several articles on system engineering and human-computer interactions, and was co-chairman of the ERGO-IA'06 conference.