Techniques

The techniques consist of a set of steps and activities, whose advantages are reduced to costs, time management and a better experience for all stakeholders. It is the driving force of the entire development of a project and, in particular, focused on Internet of Things.

Some examples

In a broad context, techniques can cover the areas of elicitation, analysis, development and validation. There are several techniques available in the literature, the most used being:

  • Prototyping;
  • Scenario development (use cases, actors and others);
  • Detailed requirements analysis (could be meetings or the use of validation software);
  • Checklists;
  • Evaluation questionnaires (manual or automatic, captured by sensors);
  • Practical check with customers and end users.
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Requirements Engineering Techniques that address requirements validation in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT)

Each technique developed by different authors varies according to its specification, proposal and specific situations. Of the reviewed articles on IoT requirements validation, we categorize them into the options below:


SCENARIoT: Support for Scenario Specification of Internet of Things-Based Software Systems

Author: Valéria Silva [2]

Techniques: Scenario and Personas

Description: Provides the development of nine scenarios based on iterative flows for system functionalities, defined by user or by software. In specific cases, it uses personas.



SCENARIOTCHECK: Uma Técnica de Leitura Baseada em Checklist para Verificação de Cenários IoT

Author: Bruno Pedraça de Souza [5]

Techniques: Checklist and Scenario.

Description: In order to improve SCENARIoT, the author adopted the techniques of scenarios, personas (both present in SCENARIoT) and added checklists to validate if the requirements elicited were consistent with the software documentation.



Towards the Description and Representation of Smartness in IoT Scenarios Specification

Autor: Souza et al. [6]

Techniques: Scenario.

Description: The authors proposed a technique that consists in the elaboration of templates aimed at the requirements elicitation, analysis and validation in IoT, using scenarios for this purpose. It is primarily intended for smart home purposes.


References

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[2] Silva, Valeria Martins da: Support for scenario specification of internet of things based software systems. UFRJ/COPPE, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2019. Click here to access.

[5] "Souza, Bruno Pedraça de, "SCENARIOTCHECK: Uma Técnica de Leitura Baseada em Checklist para Verificação de Cenários IoT". Tese de Doutoramento, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2020." Click here to access.

[6] Souza, Bruno Pedraça de, Rebeca Campos Motta e Guilherme Horta Travassos: Towards the description and representation of smartness in iot scenarios specification. Em Carmo Machado, Ivan do, Rodrigo Souza, Rita Suzana Pitangueira Maciel e Cláudio Sant’Anna (editores): Proceedings of the XXXIII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering, SBES 2019, Salvador, Brazil, September 23-27, 2019, páginas 511–516. ACM, 2019. Click here to access.


Requirement Engineering Technique for Smart Spaces

Authors: Aziz et al. [3]

Techniques: Use Cases

Description: The authors proposed a technique capable of simplifying requirements elicitation, validation and verification, using driven use-case diagrams to describe them.



Horizontal Requirement Engineering in Integration of Multiple IoT Use Cases of City Platform as a Service

Author: Toshihiko Yamakami [10]

Techniques: Checklist and Use Cases.

Description: The author proposed a framework to aid the design of IoT systems using UML diagrams. This framework has three identification stages (interaction between use cases, coordination and impact), which can be added tables, checklists or other techniques.


References

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[3] Aziz, Muhammad Waqar, Adil Amjad Sheikh e Emad A. Felemban: Requirement engineering technique for smart spaces. Em Proceedings of the International Conference on Internet of Things and Cloud Computing, Cambridge, UK, March 22-23, 2016, páginas 54:1–54:7. ACM, 2016. Click here to access.

[10] T. Yamakami, "Horizontal Requirement Engineering in Integration of Multiple IoT Use Cases of City Platform as a Service," 2017 IEEE International Conference on Computer and Information Technology (CIT), 2017, pp. 292-296. Click here to access.


Requirements for Testing and Validating the Industrial Internet of Things

Authors: Antão et al. [4]

Techniques: Test Case.

Description: Thinking about industrial activities, the authors created a robust validation technique, working on eight precepts of Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) that can affect the company's systems, as well as its employees and physical structures. As a validation technique, UML diagrams and test cases are proposed to evaluate the interactions between man and machine.


References

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[4] Antão, Liliana, Rui Pinto, João Reis e Gil Gonçalves: Requirements for testing and validating the industrial internet of things. Em 2018 IEEE International Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation Workshops, ICST Workshops, Västerås, Sweden, April 9-13, 2018, páginas 110–115. IEEE Computer Society, 2018. Click here to access.

Emotion-oriented requirements engineering: A case study in developing a smart home system for the elderly

Authors: Curumsing et al. [12]

Techniques: Questionnaire.

Description: The authors developed the SofiHub to help seniors how to adapt their home to a smart home and help their routine, provide comfort, ease the effects of loneliness and reassure their families. The authors adopted a Goal Model-based process to relate emotional and system goals. The authors used questionnaires to validate the requirements.

References

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[12] Curumsing, Maheswaree Kissoon, Niroshinie Fernando, Mohamed Abdelrazek, Rajesh Vasa, Kon Mouzakis e John Grundy: Emotion-oriented requirements engineering: A case study in developing a smart home system for the elderly. Journal of Systems and Software, 147:215–229, 2019, ISSN 0164-1212. Click here to access.


SCENARIOTCHECK: Uma Técnica de Leitura Baseada em Checklist para Verificação de Cenários IoT

Author: Bruno Pedraça de Souza [5]

Techniques: Checklist and Scenario.

Description: In order to improve SCENARIoT, the author adopted the techniques of scenarios, personas (both present in SCENARIoT) and added checklists to validate if the requirements elicited were consistent with the software documentation.


Non Functional requirement analysis in IoT based Smart Traffic Management System

Authors: Mahalank et al. [11]

Techniques: Template and Checklist

Description: The authors adopted a framework composed of three steps, templates and checklist to aid in the requirements validation.



IoT Roadmap: Support for Internet of Things Software Systems Engineering

Authors: Motta et al. [9]

Techniques: Checklist

Description: The authors used checklist based on phases, facets and items to perform the software requirements validation in the context of IoT.


Horizontal Requirement Engineering in Integration of Multiple IoT Use Cases of City Platform as a Service

Author: Toshihiko Yamakami [10]

Techniques: Checklist and Use Cases.

Description: The author proposed a framework to help the design of IoT systems using UML diagrams. This framework has three identification stages (interaction between use cases, coordination and impact), which can be added tables, checklists or other techniques.


References

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[5] "Souza, Bruno Pedraça de, "SCENARIOTCHECK: Uma Técnica de Leitura Baseada em Checklist para Verificação de Cenários IoT". Tese de Doutoramento, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2020." Click here to access.

[9] Motta, Rebeca Campos, Káthia Marçal de Oliveira e Guilherme Travassos, "IoT Roadmap: Support for Internet of Things Software Systems Engineering". CoRR, abs/2103.04969, 2021. Click here to access.

[10] T. Yamakami, "Horizontal Requirement Engineering in Integration of Multiple IoT Use Cases of City Platform as a Service," 2017 IEEE International Conference on Computer and Information Technology (CIT), 2017, pp. 292-296. Click here to access.

[11] S. N. Mahalank, K. B. Malagund and R. M. Banakar, "Non Functional Requirement Analysis in IoT based smart traffic management system," 2016 International Conference on Computing Communication Control and automation (ICCUBEA), 2016, pp. 1-6. Click here to access.


SCENARIoT: Support for Scenario Specification of Internet of Things-Based Software Systems

Author: Valéria Silva [2]

Techniques: Scenario and Personas

Description: It provides the development of nine scenarios based on iterative flows for system functionalities, defined by user or by software. In specific cases, it uses personas.



References

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[2] Silva, Valeria Martins da: Support for scenario specification of internet of things based software systems. UFRJ/COPPE, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2019. Click here to access.