Title: Concepts of Architecture, Structure and System,
Abstract: The current ISO standards pertaining to the Concepts of System and
Architecture express succinct definitions of these two key terms that lend
themselves to practical application and can be understood through elementary
mathematical foundations. The current work of the ISO/IEC Working Group 42 is
seeking to refine and elaborate the existing standards. This position paper
revisits the fundamental concepts underlying both of these key terms and offers
an approach to: (i) refine and exemplify the term 'fundamental concepts' in the
current ISO definition of Architecture, (ii) exploit existing standards for the
term 'concept', and (iii) introduce a new concept, Architectural Structure,
that can serve to unify the current terminology at a fundamental level. Precise
elementary examples are used in to conceptualise the approach offered.