From software product lines to system of systems: Analysis of an evolution path

Software Product Line (SPL) refers to engineering methods and techniques able to deliver families of related products designed to meet domain-specific requirements and increase software reuse. System of Systems (SoS) is a composition of independent and interoperable systems intended to achieve unique goals collectively. In this paper, we discuss about conventional SPL approaches and the reasons why they commonly are not a natural choice for delivering SoS members. Then, we propose an evolution path for SPL Engineering (SPLE) to narrow the gap between SPL and SoS. Finally, we present a case study in which we designed a sample SoS by composing systems instantiated from SPL.