Percepto
Remote ID: from business blocker to a shippable cross-device journey
The world's most advanced autonomous drone operations platform — FAA compliance UX, mission creation, and pre-launch checks for field engineers.
Business & Product Framing
Start from the OKR, not from the wireframe
Before user flows, I aligned with Product on the real business problem: without compliant sharing of operator and aircraft location, Percepto couldn't claim a complete US story. That framing turned "checkbox compliance" into a product and revenue constraint the whole squad could reason about.
The Problem
Pre-launch failures were blocking missions before Remote ID was a factor
Pre-launch failures — GPS issues, heading errors, sensor faults — were blocking missions before Remote ID was even a factor.
I paired operational data with field interviews. Power BI preflight reports showed which technical failures dominated real launches. We understood where risk concentrated for operators — heading, GPS, sensor checks — not only what felt slow in the UI.
That grounded problem definition in customer behaviour and failure frequency, not generic "bad UX."
User Flow
Discovery multiple flows
Every potential compliance path — browser-based location, secondary mobile device, native app — had to be mapped against real field constraints.
Swimlane detail. Decision points, error paths, and constraints (e.g. takeoff disabled until user GPS is known).
Overview. End-to-end narrative flow — quick alignment for stakeholders who hadn't lived inside AIM daily.
Cross-functional Discovery
Mapping the opportunity with PM, Support, and Engineering
Remote ID sits between policy, infrastructure, and frontline support load. I facilitated working sessions to get a shared picture of triggers, failures, and responsibilities — who owns the SMS, what happens when GPS is weak, how operators recover without abandoning the drone on the pad.
Exported matrix from discovery (reference only — readable content is above).
Key Decision
Start from shared system truth. Not from screens.
The default framing
Start with interface mockups for the Remote ID flow — build the screens, align on the UX, then surface the cross-team dependencies as they appear.
The reframe
Map the complete system model first — all surfaces, all owners, all failure modes — so the design work has a stable foundation and the team is arguing from one shared structure, not four separate mental models.
"Starting with screens would have meant designing against assumptions none of the teams had yet agreed on."
Layout Exploration
Three architectures evaluated before one direction was committed to
SMS link journey, two dedicated URLs, desktop browser path — each stress-tested against value, viability, usability, and feasibility before any implementation decision was made.
Design
One mission flow across surfaces Percepto did not fully own
The final UX had to hold together across AIM on desktop, an SMS handoff, a mobile browser, and native OS permission prompts — each with different constraints and different owners.
Update the design system
New components for the AIM UI kit — location prompts, SMS confirmation states, and connection flows aligned with Percepto's design language.
Reflection
What this project changed about how I work
The first design task is often making the problem visible.
In ambiguous product spaces, the most valuable thing is not drawing screens — it is making the problem clear enough that the team can stop debating it and start building against one direction. Framing is a deliverable.
Systems that cross team boundaries need a shared model before they need a design.
Remote ID sat between policy, infrastructure, and frontline support. Solving it required getting the whole system visible first — not as a design deliverable, but as the foundation the design work could stand on.
Research density matters more than research volume.
A small number of operator conversations, mapped carefully against the system model, was more useful than a large study with no clear direction. The goal is not coverage — it is the insight that changes what gets built.
