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The role of satellite technologies in relief logistics

François-Xavier Delmonteil (École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France)
Marie-Ève Rancourt (Department of Logistics and Operations Management, HEC Montréal and CIRRELT, Montréal, Canada)

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management

ISSN: 2042-6747

Article publication date: 3 April 2017

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Abstract

Purpose

The devastating impact of catastrophic disasters on terrestrial infrastructure requires the adoption of alternative technology solutions among humanitarian organizations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of the most commonly used satellite technologies in relief logistics: imagery and mapping, portable global positioning system (GPS) positioning devices, telecommunications, and GPS vehicle tracking.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines both the benefits and limitations of satellite technologies in light of the existing literature and through a complementary questionnaire survey with field workers involved in humanitarian operations in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Findings

The results show that the use of satellite technologies can facilitate most of the key logistics challenges encountered by relief actors. However, they also highlight important barriers within humanitarian organizations such as the lack of skilled workers and high costs, underlining the need for long-term training, resource investments, and cooperation between users and technology providers.

Research limitations/implications

The research findings remain valid only in the context of catastrophic disaster responses, which lead to similar destructions, logistical problems, and needs for satellite technologies.

Practical implications

This paper shows how satellite technologies can support humanitarian professionals in the field. It also provides policy recommendations that can facilitate the use of these technologies.

Originality/value

The applications of satellite technologies within humanitarian supply chains are not well-defined in the literature. This paper is the first to be dedicated to analyze the role of the main satellite technologies used in a relief logistics setting.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors first thank the participant organizations for their time and contribution to this study. The authors also express deep gratitude to Antoine Petibon from the French Red Cross for the fruitful discussions that helped enhance the quality of this paper. This research was partly funded by the Direction Générale de l'Armement (DGA), the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), and the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) under the Grant 370597-14. This support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors finally thank the Humanitarian Response Lab of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics for its support.

Citation

Delmonteil, F.-X. and Rancourt, M.-È. (2017), "The role of satellite technologies in relief logistics", Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 57-78. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-07-2016-0031

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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