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Grace
Maritime Cyber Testbed Applications
As a UX Designer, I was tasked with designing 5 Grace Maritime Cyber Testbed applications for various customers. The Grace Maritime Cyber Testbed, named in homage to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, is a first-of-its-kind fixture to fill the need for a maritime cyber training environment and cyber laboratory testbed. Grace is constructed from the same maritime electronics that compose the networks aboard a commercial vessel. I designed the applications the end-users would use to operate the testbeds.
My Role: UX/UI Designer
Applications: Five
Timeline: 2 - 3 months per application
Applications:
Aviation
Ballast
Power Generation
Security, IT
Steering & Propulsion
The Problem
How might we improve the Grace Maritime Cyber Testbed application so that users can interact with maritime systems in a training capacity? Grace was designed for both novices and experts in the maritime industry. We have observed a need for a laboratory-type environment that users can use to improve upon their maritime cybersecurity skills.
Application Descriptions
Aviation
Aviation Grace is Fathom5's avionics cyber-physical testbed. A very common serial protocol that aircraft speak is ARINC 429, and at the heart of Aviation Grace is access to a live ARINC 429 data bus. A user can monitor messages flowing in and out of the bus as well as inject their messages onto the bus. The goal of this testbed is for users to complete three labs where they have to attempt different cyberattacks on the computer and see the changes reflected in the X Plane 11 flight simulator.
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Ballast
The Grace: Ballast system is comprised of four ballast tanks, a sea chest, and two pathways of pipes that connect the chest and tanks. Each pathway consists of pipes, valves, pumps, and sensors. The valves and pumps push the water to and from the sea chest and tanks. There are sensors located on both sides of the pumps to measure water pressure and on each of the tanks to measure water levels. The goal of this application is to create events digitally that will push the water through.
Power Generation
The Grace Power Generation Console system exemplifies a marine generator and the distribution of the generated power to representative ship subsystems over the console's communication J1939 network. The Power Distribution application shows the state of the J1939 communication and allows the user to monitor and control the state of ship subsystems. The goal of this application is to allocate power to the different systems virtually and see the effects of the distribution.
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Security, IT
The Security system includes two physical doors, a smart card reader, a motion detector, and two mounted cameras. The IT system is a server rack containing an Uninterruptible Power Supply, a network switch, and a Server. The goal of this application is to use the IP addresses to hack into the security program.
Steering & Propulsion
The Steering system is comprised of the helm, joystick, and Hydraulic Power Unit to control rudder deflection. The Throttle system includes 2 throttle stations, a control unit, a shift unit, a linear actuator, and a mock propeller assembly. The goal of the application is to digitally take control of the rudder and throttle by creating events.
Definition & Ideation
User Personas
The idea for Grace as a product has multiple types of customers spanning academia, military, and industrial maritime. My main focus was on the end-users who would be utilizing the Grace Maritime Cyber Testbeds the most; the instructors, the trainees, and the testers. These personas helped guide design decisions by keeping in mind the types of people who would be using Grace in their day-to-day jobs.
Sketches
After I felt like the team had a handle on who we were creating this product line for, we began ideating on what each application would look like. For me, this step was more about how the interactions would work and how the digital and physical components would come together. Below is a gallery combination of the sketches from the multiple applications.
Low Fidelity Prototyping
Each set of sketches was reviewed by key internal stakeholders where I would gather feedback and answer any questions. Modifications and changes were made and implemented in the next iteration, low-fi prototypes. Below is a gallery combination of a few of the low-fidelity frames for each application.
Style & Branding
Style Tile
I was directed to use the Fathom5 company style and branding for the Grace Maritime Cyber Testbed applications. The applications are an updated version. However, the design needed to match the style of the previous version. I applied the style guide to the prototypes in the next iteration.
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Final Iterations
High Fidelity Prototype
Once style and branding were applied, I built out each application and the interactions in detail. Below are quick screen recordings of each of the 5 prototypes.
Aviation
Ballast
Power Generation
Security/IT
Steering & Propulsion
I handed off the hi-fi prototypes to the development team. From there, I would sync with the development team regularly to help with any design questions or assist with any revisions that needed to happen.
In Conclusion...
Final Thoughts
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Overall, this project was incredibly interesting. I appreciated being able to work cross-functionally with internal teams on the development of a new product.
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This project was all about speed. The turnaround time for each deliverable was very quick. I had to cut out most of my design process to meet deadlines. However, I gained a perspective on which parts of the design process help the most with the overall outcome.
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The majority of this project was accomplished as the engineering team was still building the consoles and the functionality was unknown. This helped me to become more resilient and work in an agile environment.
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Commodore Grace M. Hopper, USN
Next Steps
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Gather qualitative and quantitative user feedback on each application.
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Rebrand the design to give the product line it's own voice and tone.
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Do market research on direct and indirect competitors to better understand the strengths and weaknesses relative to the Grace product line.