Requirements Engineering for a Drone-Enabled Integrated Humanitarian Logistics Platform

Abstract

The pursuit of ameliorating humanitarian logistics (HL) through the integration of cutting-edge technologies has received significant attention in recent years. AIRDROP is a visionary platform conceived to offer a cohesive disaster management approach spanning from preparedness to recovery of a wide range of natural and human-made disasters. AIRDROP aims to be a scalable, modular and flexible solution, employing an array of drones of different sizes and payload capabilities, able to provide different HL services to first responders and operational decision-makers. This study aims to elicit, specify and validate the requirements for AIRDROP to ensure their applicability across a broad spectrum of disaster scenarios and the entire disaster management continuum. This research utilized a thorough literature review and expert consultations to systematically elicit and specify the AIRDROP requirements, ensuring they were grounded in both academic foundations and practical industry standards. The validation process involved a questionnaire survey administered to 26 participants from various professional backgrounds. The requirements were prioritized using the MoSCoW methodology, and significant differences among participant groups were identified through the Kruskal–Wallis H and Mann–Whitney U tests. Furthermore, two critical requirements emerged from open-ended responses. As a result, 276 out of the initially defined 335 requirements in total advanced to the design phase. It is worth noting that the dynamic nature of requirements in HL necessitates ongoing assessment and adaptation to keep AIRDROP at the forefront and aligned with evolving needs.