On Interpreting Scale (Or View) and Emergence in Complex Systems Engineering

Abstract

A human-centric treatment of the concepts of multi-scale analysis and emergence in complex systems engineering (CSE) is offered. This includes an attempt to characterize what an individual might do in conceptualizing a given systems engineering situation s/he is facing. The goal is to suggest fresh interpretations of the terms scale and emergence that will contribute to a more collaborative approach to improving the CSE practice. Because other authors use "scale" in several different ways, potentially causing confusion, this author proposes "view" instead. Here a given view is defined as a combination of "scope", "granularity", "mindset", and "timeframe". Although "emergence" has a rich spectrum of definitions in the literature, this author prefers to emphasize the unexpected, especially "surprising", flavor of emergence.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2008
Accession Number
AD1107099

Entities

People

  • Brian E. White

Organizations

  • MITRE Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Cognition
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Complex Systems
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Consciousness
  • Corporations
  • Engineering
  • Environment
  • Group Dynamics
  • Nervous System
  • New York
  • Observers
  • Perception
  • Self Organizing Systems
  • System Of Systems
  • Systems Engineering
  • Systems Science
  • Time Intervals
  • Universities

Readers

  • Software Engineering.
  • Systems Analysis and Design