Systems Engineering and the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a complex system of systems (SoS). IoT systems include the electric smart grid, smart manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, smart consumer devices, etc. Technology advancements will continue to evolve to facilitate connection to larger and larger IoT networks and more complex devices. This will be the catalyst that will drive entire infrastructure changes to federal, state, city, and local governments, product development companies, utility and service providers, and even to consumers and their homes. The infrastructure and management will need to be established prior to, or in conjunction with, the smart systems that support them. The future of IoT success is dependent on the application of solid Systems Engineering and Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) principles. MBSE enables engineers to manage the definition of interfaces, allocation of behaviors, evolution of technology, and system security: concepts essential to the successful development of IoT applications. Absent of any industry standards, IoT systems would explode in chaos rather than evolve in a controlled manner. The Unified Architecture Framework (UAF) provides a means to develop and understand complex system of systems architectures and how they evolve. The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) supports systems engineers to define systems requirements, structure, and behavior throughout the system lifecycle. UAF and SysML combined provide a means of defining complex systems of systems as well as detailed devices and how they work together. IoT success will only be realized through application of up to date, standardized systems engineering languages, processes, and tools.