Runtime Composition in Dynamic System of Systems: A Systematic Review of Challenges, Solutions, Tools, and Evaluation Methods
Context: Modern Systems of Systems (SoSs) increasingly operate in dynamic environments (e.g., smart cities, autonomous vehicles) where runtime composition—the on-the-fly discovery, integration, and coordination of constituent systems (CSs)—is crucial for adaptability. Despite growing interest, the literature lacks a cohesive synthesis of runtime composition in dynamic SoSs. Objective: This study synthesizes research on runtime composition in dynamic SoSs and identifies core challenges, solution strategies, supporting tools, and evaluation methods. Methods: We conducted a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), screening 1,774 studies published between 2019 and 2024 and selecting 80 primary studies for thematic analysis (TA). Results: Challenges fall into four categories: modeling and analysis, resilient operations, system orchestration, and heterogeneity of CSs. Solutions span seven areas: co-simulation and digital twins, semantic ontologies, integration frameworks, adaptive architectures, middleware, formal methods, and AI-driven resilience. Service-oriented frameworks for composition and integration dominate tooling, while simulation platforms support evaluation. Interoperability across tools, limited cross-toolchain workflows, and the absence of standardized benchmarks remain key gaps. Evaluation approaches include simulation-based, implementation-driven, and human-centered studies, which have been applied in domains such as smart cities, healthcare, defense, and industrial automation. Conclusions: The synthesis reveals tensions, including autonomy versus coordination, the modeling-reality gap, and socio-technical integration. It calls for standardized evaluation metrics, scalable decentralized architectures, and cross-domain frameworks. The analysis aims to guide researchers and practitioners in developing and implementing dynamically composable SoSs.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.12616
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0164121225003309
@article{ASHFAQ2025112661,
title = {Runtime Composition in Dynamic System of Systems: A Systematic Review of Challenges, Solutions, Tools, and Evaluation Methods},
journal = {Journal of Systems and Software},
pages = {112661},
year = {2025},
issn = {0164-1212},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2025.112661},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0164121225003309},
author = {Muhammad Ashfaq and Ahmed R. Sadik and Teerath Das and Muhammad Waseem and Niko Mäkitalo and Tommi Mikkonen},
}