0002 - Builder's Brief: Uncrew Demo Requirements
CONFIDENTIAL | DroneUp | April 2026
How to use this document: This is the build companion to the Uncrew Demo Script (0001). The script tells the presenter what to say and do. This document tells the team what the platform must be able to do — and tracks whether it can.
Update the Status column for each beat as work is assessed or completed:
- Done — capability exists today and is demo-stable
- Needed — capability must be built or configured before the demo
- Unknown — not sure if this exists, how to build it, or whether it’s feasible in the timeline
Use the Notes column to capture decisions, owners, blockers, or alternative approaches.
Demo Overview
The demo tells one story across six acts. Each act has a defined narrative purpose — a reason the audience needs to see it. Understanding the purpose is what tells the team what actually matters versus what’s nice-to-have.
| Act | Role | Narrative Purpose | Target Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening | RPIC / Pilot | Hook — show the flight first. Clean, simple, compelling. | ~3 min |
| Act 1 | Supervisor | Reveal — show who managed the mission and what they saw. | ~4 min |
| Act 2 | HubOps / Ground Crew | Foundation 1 — show how the aircraft and order were prepared. | ~5 min |
| Act 3 | Environment Manager | Foundation 2 — show the data layer that makes safe ops possible. | ~4 min |
| Act 4 | Dashboard | Output — show what the platform produces from the full operation. | ~3 min |
| Act 5 | Supervisor (Scale) | Finale — show the platform at 50+ missions, 10+ pilots, all live. | ~3 min |
Total target runtime: 20–22 minutes.
Status Key
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
Done | Exists today, demo-stable |
Needed | Must be built or configured |
Unknown | Unsure — needs investigation |
— | Not yet assessed |
Opening: RPIC — Flight Execution
Narrative purpose: The demo opens without preamble. The first thing the audience sees is the RPIC initiating a mission and a drone beginning to fly. This is the “easy part” — clean, fast, autonomous. Everything after this is the reveal of what makes it possible.
The hero moment in this act is the mission initiation — the RPIC presses one control and the platform takes over. The audience needs to feel that transition from human action to autonomous execution.
| # | Demo Beat | What the Audience Sees | System Requirement | Hero Moment | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| O-1 | RPIC logs in and lands on My Missions view | A clean mission queue showing one assigned mission, ready to initiate | RPIC role-scoped view showing assigned missions. Mission status = Assigned — Ready to Initiate | — | ||
| O-2 | RPIC opens mission detail | Path plan on a map — ingress route, operational area or destination, egress. Mission parameters visible. | Mission detail view with interactive map, path plan overlay, and key mission parameters | — | ||
| O-3 | RPIC initiates the mission | Status transitions visibly from Assigned to In Flight or Active | Mission initiation control. Status update propagates to Supervisor board in real time | ⭐ | — | |
| O-4 | Live flight monitoring | Aircraft position moving on the map. Telemetry visible. Progress tracked against path plan. | Live flight monitoring view — position, telemetry stream, path conformance indicator | — | ||
| O-5 | RPIC performs key in-flight action | Delivery confirmation, waypoint acknowledgement, or sensor trigger — one clear human action | In-platform action step at the mission’s key waypoint. Timestamped and recorded. | ⭐ | — | |
| O-6 | Mission completes, aircraft returns | Status transitions to Returning then Complete. Mission closes out cleanly. | Mission completion state machine. Return-to-hub tracking. Clean close-out status. | — | ||
| O-7 | Flight appears in ATOMx as authorized | Live Map shows the aircraft as a blue (authorized) dot during the flight | Uncrew flight linked to UTM authorization. Flight record published to ATOMx telemetry feed. | ⭐ | — |
Act 1: Supervisor — Mission Management & Watching Brief
Narrative purpose: After the flight, we step back to the Supervisor’s view. The audience has already seen the outcome — now they see the person who made it happen. This act answers: where did that mission come from, and how did the Supervisor know what was happening without a single radio call?
The hero moment is the watching brief simulation — the Supervisor’s board updating in real time as a pilot initiates their mission. The audience sees both sides of the handoff.
| # | Demo Beat | What the Audience Sees | System Requirement | Hero Moment | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S-1 | Supervisor mission board — full shift view | 3+ missions across multiple states. Statuses, pilot assignments, hub assignments all visible. | Supervisor role-scoped mission board. Filters by hub, status, pilot. | — | ||
| S-2 | Hero mission shows as Complete on the board | The mission just flown is already closed out — no manual update required | Mission status from RPIC initiation/completion propagates automatically to Supervisor board | — | ||
| S-3 | Open hero mission — path plan visible | Interactive map showing the full route that was just flown | Mission detail with path plan map overlay accessible from Supervisor view | — | ||
| S-4 | Path planning callout | Presenter highlights that the route reflects ground risk, obstacle clearance, and UTM constraints | Path plan must visually indicate it is environment-aware — not a simple A-to-B line | — | ||
| S-5 | Supervisor assigns a mission to a pilot | Pilot availability list. One action assigns mission and notifies pilot. | Pilot availability panel in Supervisor view. Assignment action with real-time notification to RPIC session. | — | ||
| S-6 | Watching brief — live mission map | Map showing all active missions and aircraft positions across the shift | Live operational map in Supervisor view. Multiple concurrent mission positions. | — | ||
| S-7 | Watching brief simulation — status update live | A mission status changes from Assigned to In Flight on the board without any presenter action | Real-time push update to Supervisor board when RPIC initiates. Board reflects change within seconds. | ⭐ | — | Confirm: can this be triggered as a simulation, or does it require a live RPIC session to fire? |
Act 2: HubOps — Ground Operations & Vehicle Readiness
Narrative purpose: The audience has seen the flight and the supervisor layer. Now we show the ground ops that made the aircraft ready. This is where operational discipline lives — daily risk checks, order intake, vehicle prep, battery management. Without this, there’s no flight.
The hero moment is the chain close at the end: “The ground crew built it, the Supervisor reviewed it, the RPIC flew it.” The audience should feel the full handoff chain for the first time here.
| # | Demo Beat | What the Audience Sees | System Requirement | Hero Moment | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H-1 | HubOps daily operations dashboard | Hub status, daily ops summary visible on load | HubOps daily ops dashboard scoped to demo hub | — | ||
| H-2 | Weekly Risk Assessment | Risk assessment form or confirmation screen for the hub | Weekly risk assessment workflow in HubOps. Must show a completed or in-progress assessment. | — | ||
| H-3 | Daily Operational Control confirmation | Daily hub clearance check — NOTAMs, weather, maintenance flags | Daily ops confirmation workflow. Drives hub Active / Suspended status. | — | ||
| H-4 | Assign asset to Landing Zone | Vehicle-to-LZ assignment workflow. LZ config detail visible (approach paths, weight limits etc.) | Asset-to-LZ assignment screen. LZ configuration data visible during assignment. | — | ||
| H-5 | Order / task intake | Inbound order or task in the intake queue. Package/task details logged. | Order intake view in HubOps. Pre-seeded order ready to process. | — | ||
| H-6 | Assign order to vehicle | Order routed to the vehicle serving the destination LZ | Order-to-vehicle assignment. Platform uses LZ-vehicle relationship to guide the assignment. | — | ||
| H-7 | Battery assignment | Battery inventory view. Charge state and cycle history visible per pack. Assignment to vehicle. | Battery management screen. Charge status, cycle count, health flag per battery. Assignment workflow. | — | ||
| H-8 | Vehicle reset after battery change | Configuration reset step triggered by battery assignment | Vehicle reset / config confirmation workflow. Logged and timestamped. | — | ||
| H-9 | Mission submitted to Supervisor | Ground crew completes pre-flight and submits mission to Supervisor queue | Mission submission action in HubOps. Mission appears on Supervisor board on submission. | ⭐ | — |
Act 3: Environment Manager — Operational Foundation
Narrative purpose: The deepest layer of the demo. The Environment Manager builds and maintains the data that everything else depends on — ground risk, obstacles, UTM linkage, operational boundaries. This is the capability that most competitors don’t surface at all.
The hero moment is the connection back to the path plan — showing that the route the Supervisor reviewed and the RPIC flew was built inside boundaries defined here, around obstacles managed here, with UTM authorization established here. The Environmental Manager built the world; everyone else operated in it.
| # | Demo Beat | What the Audience Sees | System Requirement | Hero Moment | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-1 | Environment Manager session — operational area overview | Map with data layers visible — risk overlays, obstacles, boundaries | Environment Manager role-scoped view. Operational area map with toggleable data layers. | — | ||
| E-2 | Ground risk overlay | Colour-coded risk assessment for the operational area — population, terrain, infrastructure | Ground risk layer on the operational map. Must be visually distinct and clearly labelled. | — | ||
| E-3 | Obstacle / exclusion zone | At least one obstacle or exclusion zone shown. How it affects routing is clear. | Obstacle/exclusion zone management. Zones visible on map. Path planner must treat them as hard constraints. | — | ||
| E-4 | UTM integration link | UTM connection configured for the operational area. Authorization request flow referenced. | UTM integration config view in Environment Manager. Shows which UTM provider is linked and status. | — | ||
| E-5 | GeoBound locations | Named operational boundaries visible on the map — at least 2 configured | GeoBound location management. Named zones with configurable geometry. Used by path planner and authorization. | — | ||
| E-6 | Connection back to the path plan | Presenter shows the hero mission’s path plan in the context of the environmental data | Path plan overlay on Environment Manager map — or ability to reference path plan against the env layers | ⭐ | — | Confirm: can the hero mission’s path plan be overlaid on the Environment Manager view, or does this require switching back to the Supervisor/RPIC session? |
Act 4: Dashboard — Platform Outputs
Narrative purpose: The operation is complete. Now we show what the platform produced. The dashboard is the last analytical beat before the scale finale — it reframes all the detail the audience just absorbed as operational data they can act on.
The hero moment is the SLA comparison per mission in the daily view — not averages, but per-mission performance against target. This is the insight that turns data into decisions.
| # | Demo Beat | What the Audience Sees | System Requirement | Hero Moment | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D-1 | Operations Dashboard — location scoped | Dashboard loads filtered to demo hub. Top-level metrics visible. | Operations dashboard with hub/location filter. | — | ||
| D-2 | Deliveries Completed metric | Count of missions that reached delivery confirmation | Deliveries completed counter. Scoped to selected location and date range. | — | ||
| D-3 | Flights Completed metric | Count of all flights executed (delivery + other) | Flights completed counter. Distinct from deliveries — includes non-delivery flights. | — | ||
| D-4 | Failed Flights metric | Gap between flights completed and deliveries completed — derived, not manually entered | Failed flights metric. Auto-derived from flights vs deliveries delta. | — | ||
| D-5 | Issues Reported metric | Count of in-flight anomalies, maintenance flags, operational exceptions | Issues reported counter. Linked to flagged events from flight records and HubOps logs. | — | ||
| D-6 | Time per delivery — Pre-flight phase | Average pre-flight time: order intake to RPIC initiation | Pre-flight time metric. Derived from HubOps intake timestamp to Uncrew mission initiation timestamp. | — | ||
| D-7 | Time per delivery — Outbound phase | Average outbound time: initiation to delivery confirmation | Outbound time metric. Derived from mission initiation to in-flight delivery action timestamp. | — | ||
| D-8 | Time per delivery — Total Mission Time | End-to-end time including return | Total mission time. Initiation to mission close. | — | ||
| D-9 | Daily delivery view — table | All missions for selected day. Status, destination, time vs. SLA per row. | Daily mission list view. Columns: mission ID, status, destination/area, actual time, SLA target, variance. | — | ||
| D-10 | Daily delivery view — map toggle | Map showing delivery locations for the day. Colour-coded by outcome. | Map view of daily missions. Pins at delivery/action points. Colour indicates on-time / late / failed. | — | ||
| D-11 | Drill-down to individual mission record | Full mission lifecycle: telemetry, path flown, actions, UTM record | Click-through from daily view row to complete mission record. Full lifecycle data visible. | ⭐ | — |
Act 5: Scale Demo — Full Operational Picture
Narrative purpose: The finale. The entire demo has been built around one mission in detail. This act zooms out to show the platform running at enterprise scale — 50+ missions, 10+ pilots, all updating in real time. The message is that the clarity the audience just experienced at one mission holds at any scale.
This act answers the implicit sales question: “OK, but does it actually scale?” The answer should be visual and visceral, not verbal.
This segment requires a dedicated pre-configured simulation. It cannot be improvised. The simulation must be ready to trigger from a single action before the demo begins.
| # | Demo Beat | What the Audience Sees | System Requirement | Hero Moment | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SC-1 | Scale simulation launches | Mission board populates with 50+ missions across 10+ pilots. Multiple statuses active simultaneously. | Pre-configured simulation triggerable from a single action. Missions span all status states on launch. Does NOT require 50 live RPIC sessions — simulation injects telemetry and status changes through the normal pipeline. | ⭐ | — | This is the single highest-risk item in the demo. Confirm: how is this simulated? Does the telemetry service support injected simulation data at this volume? |
| SC-2 | Mission board updating live | Status transitions happening on the board without presenter intervention — missions moving from Assigned → In Flight → Complete in real time | Simulated status changes pushing to the Supervisor board via the same real-time update mechanism as live missions. Update rate should feel natural — not instant-batch, not too slow. | — | ||
| SC-3 | Live map — multiple aircraft | 50+ aircraft moving simultaneously across the operational area | Live map rendering 50+ concurrent position updates. Performance must not degrade visibly at this volume. | ⭐ | — | Confirm: what is the tested upper limit of concurrent aircraft on the live map before render performance degrades? |
| SC-4 | Pilot workload panel | 10+ pilots visible with their current state — flying, available, returning, queued | Pilot availability / workload view. Shows name, current mission status, queue depth. Scoped to active shift. | — | ||
| SC-5 | Simulation runs without intervention | For 15–20 seconds the presenter says nothing and the board/map just runs | Simulation must be stable and self-sustaining for at least 60 seconds without manual input | — |
Pre-Demo Data Requirements Summary
All of the following must be pre-seeded in the demo environment before any session begins. Nothing in this list should be created live during the demo.
| Item | Required By | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hero mission — fully configured with path plan | Opening, Act 1 | — | |
| 2 additional missions — assigned to second pilot | Act 1 | — | |
| RPIC account — hero pilot, hero mission assigned | Opening | — | |
| Supervisor account — full mission board visible | Act 1 | — | |
| HubOps account — hub with LZs, vehicles, inbound order | Act 2 | — | |
| Charged battery packs in HubOps inventory | Act 2 | — | |
| Environment Manager account — operational area with all layers | Act 3 | — | |
| Ground risk overlay for demo operational area | Act 3 | — | |
| At least 1 obstacle / exclusion zone configured | Act 3 | — | |
| UTM link active for demo operational area | Act 3 | — | |
| At least 2 GeoBound locations defined | Act 3 | — | |
| Pre-authorized UTM authorization for hero mission | Opening, Act 3 | — | |
| ATOMx session loaded and showing demo area | Opening | — | |
| Dashboard seeded with historical mission data (minimum 1 day) | Act 4 | — | |
| SLA targets configured for demo hub | Act 4 | — | |
| Scale simulation pre-configured (50+ missions, 10+ pilots) | Act 5 | — |
Open Questions
The following items were flagged as Unknown or require cross-team input before they can be assessed. These are the blockers — resolve these first.
| # | Question | Act | Owner | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q-1 | Can the Supervisor watching brief simulation (S-7) be triggered as a standalone demo event, or does it require a live RPIC session to initiate? | Act 1 | ||
| Q-2 | Can the hero mission’s path plan be overlaid on the Environment Manager map view for the Act 3 closing beat (E-6)? | Act 3 | ||
| Q-3 | How is the scale simulation (SC-1) implemented? Does the telemetry service support injected simulation data at 50+ concurrent mission volume? | Act 5 | ||
| Q-4 | What is the tested upper limit of concurrent aircraft on the live map before render performance degrades? | Act 5 | ||
| Q-5 | Are all four role-scoped sessions (RPIC, Supervisor, HubOps, Environment Manager) achievable with current RBAC configuration? | All | ||
| Q-6 | What is the source of SLA target data for the dashboard — is it configurable per hub, or a platform default? | Act 4 | ||
| Q-7 | Does the dashboard Pre-flight time metric require both HubOps intake timestamps and Uncrew initiation timestamps to be joined? If so, is that join implemented? | Act 4 |
Relationship to Other Documents
| Document | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Demo Script 0001 | The presenter’s guide. This document is the build companion — same acts, different audience. |
| Demo Project Plan (forthcoming) | Defines timeline, delivery format recommendation, and phase gates. This brief is the Phase 1 output. |
| HubOps Product Documentation | Source of ground truth for Act 2 capabilities — LZ management, battery workflows, daily ops control. |
| Airspace Management Documentation | Source of ground truth for Act 3 capabilities — ground risk, UTM, GeoBound. |