Adaptable Systems Engineering for Complex Adaptive Systems

During the past 15 years, Adaptable Systems Engineering or Adaptive Systems Engineering (ASE), has been establishing itself as a systems engineering discipline, especially since the breakthrough of concept and methodology in the development of the Adaptable Vehicle Make (AVM) portfolio of programs of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central research and development organization for the US Department of Defense. In ASE, systems engineers use the concept of system adaptability and adaptation techniques in solving systems engineering issues. In this paper, we review ASE’s perspective for Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), by summarizing the research progress in this area during the past 15 years. We look at ASE’ building blocks which span fundamental modeling factors, measures, missions and requirements, switching costs, etc. and show the applicability of these to CAS. The review will help system engineers and researchers quickly capture the major results and state-of-art methods in CAS engineering, and provide many opportunities for future research and industrial applications.