Interfaces for subsea operations
Designing a shared operational picture for teams of divers and autonomous underwater vehicles.
Visual-interface & front-end design lead
Figma · Adobe XD · Human-centred design
University of Southern Denmark · EU EDIDP consortium
The challenge
How can an operator understand a changing underwater situation when people, vehicles and sensor information all need attention?
My contribution
I led the visual-interface and front-end design for CUIIS, translating operational requirements into desktop and underwater interfaces. My work connected wireframes, reusable interface components, interactive prototypes and cross-partner design reviews. Consortium technical partners implemented the interfaces.
Design process
The design addressed diver and UUV monitoring, navigation, mission coordination, uncertainty and situational awareness. I ran interviews, think-aloud sessions and workshops with divers and UUV operators from the Varna Naval Academy. Their feedback and field-trial findings informed successive design updates and fortnightly cross-partner reviews.
Implementation
The interface designs brought geospatial modules, vehicle telemetry and diver physiological data into coordinated views. Figma and Adobe XD supported the prototypes and component-based design work. The interactive scene here is a new, synthetic portfolio reconstruction, rather than a screenshot or operational CUIIS software.
Outcomes & limitations
Interface designs were refined through end-user feedback and demonstrated during field trials in Varna. The trials provided feedback on the prototype in use; quantitative usability and safety outcomes are not reported here.
Further reading
Advancing C3S Systems for Subsea Tactical Operations: Insights from the CUIIS Project · Preprint, 2024
Read the CUIIS preprint