Complexity

A System is complex if it has many interrelated, interconnected, or interdependent entities and relationships. A high-level indicator of the complexity of any System is the amount of information required to describe its full range of functions and behaviours (i.e. words, formulae, lines of code, etc.).

It is important to note that additional Complexity is driven into a legacy System by ‘asking more’ of it: more functions, more interdependencies, more robustness, more flexibility, etc. This expansion of Complexity is always exacerbated by the addition of new Components and may ultimately require targeted modifications to the Structure through the application of Systems Architecture disciplines.

See also Ultra-Large-Scale (ULS) Systems

Given the fast-evolving nature of power system transformation, the Future Grid Accelerator (FGA) has the status of a perpetual BETA version. Your suggestions for how each concept and definition may be enhanced are very welcome.

All feedback will be reviewed and considered for inclusion in subsequent updates.

Please provide your suggestions to improve to this definition: