Human-Centred Requirements Engineering for Critical Systems: Insights from Disaster Early Warning Applications

TL;DR

The paper argues that human-centered requirements engineering is essential for the dependability of critical systems and demonstrates this through a disaster management case. It presents a four-stage process—elicitation, specification, prototyping, and participatory validation—and operationalizes it with an adaptive Early Warning System (EWS) prototype tailored to four vulnerable user groups. By translating literature-based guidelines into 62 traceable requirements and validating them via interviews and cognitive walkthroughs, the work shows that inclusive design improves usability and resilience for all users. The study provides generalizable insights and a concrete action plan for integrating inclusivity and social responsibility into RE across safety-critical domains.

Abstract

Critical systems, such as those used in healthcare, defence, and disaster management, demand rigorous requirements engineering to ensure safety and reliability. Yet, much of this rigour has traditionally focused on technical assurance, often overlooking the human and social contexts in which these systems operate. This paper argues that considering human-centric aspects is an essential dimension of dependability, and presents a human-centred RE process designed to integrate social responsibility into critical system development. Drawing from a literature review, we identified a set of guidelines for designing software for vulnerable communities and translated these into sixty-two functional and non-functional requirements. These requirements were operationalised through the design of an adaptive early warning system prototype, which was subsequently evaluated through six interviews and eight cognitive walkthroughs to validate their relevance and applicability. The findings demonstrate that human-centric requirements, when addressed early, enhance the usability and accessibility of systems for all users. The paper concludes by positioning human-centricity not as an ethical add-on but as a defining quality of safe and equitable critical systems.

Figures (5)

• Figure 1: Human-Centric Requirements Engineering Process
• Figure 2: Core Prototype
• Figure 3: Guide Pages
• Figure 4: (a)-(c): Adapting the System at Set-up, (d): The adapted system
• Figure 5: An Action Plan