Product Requirements Document (PRD)

High-level product requirements for the Peregrine version of the Phenom app.
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Product Requirements Document (PRD)

Project Name: Peregrine

Feature/Version Name:[Name of the feature or version being described]

Peregrine Browse Events Peregrine Data Tab

1. Introduction

This is a product requirements document that outlines high level feature set for the entire Peregrine version of the Phenom app.

1.1 Purpose: To enumerate critical functionality for Phenom, a competitive gamified app for capturing UAP/Cryptids/Paranormal.

1.2 Scope: App will be distributed to Android and iPhone user platforms

1.3 Goals: Monetized gamified video capture that is undebunkable (meaning tagged with c2pa standard) and annotated for further study.

1.4 General terms

 Phenom - general term for a user recorded event
 Teams - users can form teams to record things together

2. User Stories (Issue References Only)

  • Please provide links to existing User Story issues in Linear.
  • [Add more User Story issue links]

3. Functional Requirements

App Frontend Features

  • 3.1 Video Capture

    • single button to record video
    • Preserves C2PA metadata when recording is collected.
    • Pair video and audio with sensor metrics from any other sensors attached (See Sensor Usage)
    • Display other internal sensor data over screen as buzzard does
    • Camera Modes
      1. Recording tips on/off
        1. tell user to stop shaking
        2. tell user to record some terrain
      2. ID Augmented Reality Mode: AR mode with all the satellites, planes, and so on. Just to check what is in the sky.
      3. Live Capture Mode: Turns off ID Augmented Reality view. Engages recording with ‘zen focus’ effect.
      4. Test Capture: same as Capture, but without saving the data to Phenom.earth cloud storage. Provide a browse, share to The Phenom App and delete test files feature.
    • segment known items such as
      • satellites
      • planes
      • ships
      • planets
      • meteors
    • AR overlay is available before and after recording, can be toggled.
      flowchart TD A([User Presses Record]):::action --> B([Vision Camera v5]):::tech B --> C([Sensor Data Collection
      GPS, Gyro, Compass]):::tech B --> D([Video Stream]):::tech C --> E([C2PA Metadata
      Embedding]):::feature D --> E E --> F([Post-Recording
      Edit Screen]):::action F --> G([Upload to
      Cloud Storage]):::deploy classDef action fill:#d73429,stroke:#ffffff,color:#ffffff,rx:30 classDef tech fill:#121010,stroke:#a5e3e8,color:#a5e3e8,rx:30 classDef feature fill:#151515,stroke:#d73429,color:#ffffff,rx:30 classDef deploy fill:#1a1a1a,stroke:#a5e3e8,color:#ffffff,rx:30

  • 3.2 post recording editing screen

    • allow clipping of video before upload to The Phenom App cloud storage etc.

  • 3.3 Data display and interaction

    • Summary screen of video (once recorded)
      • 3D globe or map view showing events as well as data layers such as Airplane and Satellite traffic that happened during video
      • show stats such as bearing and location
      • video metrics
    • Event viewing tool
      • normal playback screen
      • ability to overlay other known objects (see AR recording mode)
        • possible data sources
          • ADSB (airplanes)
          • AIS (ships)
          • More..?
        • could be planetarium style view
        • could be premium feature
    • The Phenom App Content Navigation Screen
      • 3D globe as is currently done in Enigma or Google Earth
        1. magnifying glass in upper right
          1. allows search by things like
            1. username, team, tag
        2. 2 major range sliders, distance and time
          1. distance slider to adjust show all events within X km/miles from pin drop (defaults to user GPS locale)
          2. Calendar icon to select date + time slider for specified time period preceding date.
    • The Phenom App Data Visualization Features
      1. Turn on Heatmaps
        1. filter by tag
        2. include 3 heatmap mode checkboxes UAP/cryptid/paranormal.
      2. Turn on Event Altitude Stick - applicable when 2 users capture an overlapping event. (see growth section)
      3. Investigation Incident Command View - Shows all resources aligned with a specific investigation event. This could be Phenom App Team members, sensor packages, for planned observation events.

  • 3.4 User interaction rewards

    • users who record multiple views of same event can get rewards
    • users who record lots of events can get rewards as well
    • rankings

  • 3.5 Education

    • onboarding screen and test area
      • Educational materials on how to film properly.
      • could be quick through tutorial that loads on app install
        • could be recording a bird for example.
        • Test recording walk-through of using the app. Video doesn’t upload to the database.
    • Types of observed UAP (descriptors or tags of observed shapes)
    • Types of observed Cryptids
    • Types of paranormal observations

  • 3.6 Phenom 15 Second Preview of Recent Activity

  • 3.7 Equipment store and purchase

    • Links to buy additional sensors and equipment
    • links to buy tshirts and swag

  • 3.8 User profiles

    • name

    • address

    • profession

    • etc

      App Backend Features

  • 3.10 Backend data sharing API

    • Should be compatible to share to other orgs (NASA whatever)
    • offer 3rd party integrations in a limited fashion. Possible integration techniques:
      • webhook?
      • RSS?
    • Other DBs:
      • MUFON
      • NUFORC

  • 3.11 General app backend

    • Data is annotated and curated to suit further API-based analysis.
  1. Desktop website features
    1. Reproduces all Data Viz available in the mobile app.
  2. Growth ideas
    1. grouping videos into events automatically
      • how do we figure out if users are seeing the same thing?
      • how do we run detailed automated analysis on multiple videos (sensor fusion)
    2. doing trajectory extrapolation to notify people that something might be coming
      1. could be triggered in high volume event cases
      2. we should think about ways to facilitate this

6. Non-Functional Requirements

4.1 Performance:

  • App must maintain 60fps during camera recording to ensure smooth capture of fast-moving phenomena.
  • Map rendering must handle 1000+ H3 hexagons without frame drops or UI jank.
  • Video processing (FFmpeg operations, C2PA signing) must run off the UI thread to keep the interface responsive.
  • MMKV storage is used for fast local data access, replacing AsyncStorage for performance-critical paths.

4.2 Security:

  • C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) content credentials are embedded in all captured media to establish authenticity and chain of custody.
  • MMKV encrypted storage is used for sensitive local data (tokens, user preferences).
  • Authentication is handled via OAuth 2.0 through AWS Cognito.
  • In-app messaging uses the Matrix protocol, which provides end-to-end encryption and decentralized architecture.

4.3 Usability:

  • The app supports 7 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic (with full RTL layout support).
  • Video capture uses a single-button interaction to minimize complexity during time-sensitive recording situations.
  • The camera HUD displays a compass and live orientation data (pitch, roll, yaw) to assist with directional documentation.
  • UI components follow platform accessibility guidelines (iOS Human Interface Guidelines, Android Material Design) for screen reader and contrast compliance.

4.4 Scalability:

  • H3 hexagonal geospatial indexing is used for spatial queries, enabling efficient global-scale event lookups at multiple resolution levels.
  • The API layer uses an adapter pattern, allowing the backend to be swapped or extended without rewriting the frontend.
  • Hasura GraphQL with PostgreSQL provides a scalable relational data layer capable of handling concurrent submissions from a large user base.

7. UI/UX Design

Figma: Design assets and component libraries are maintained in the team Figma workspace. Reference Figma for approved layouts, color tokens, spacing, and component specifications before implementing any new screens.

Key UI/UX considerations:

  • The camera HUD is rendered using Skia (via React Native Skia) to achieve high-performance, hardware-accelerated overlays without impacting the camera pipeline.
  • The app uses a dark theme optimized for low-light and night sky observation scenarios, reducing eye strain and improving screen visibility in dark environments.
  • Bottom tab navigation provides access to the five primary areas: Home, Map, Record, Sensors, and Chat.
  • Design tokens (colors, typography, spacing) are kept in sync between the Figma source of truth and the codebase to prevent visual drift across releases.

8. Technical Requirements

  • App should record battery level voltage as an internal logging function.
  • React Native 0.81.5 with Expo SDK 54.0.31 is the application framework.
  • TypeScript is required throughout the codebase for type safety and maintainability.
  • EAS (Expo Application Services) is used for managed builds and over-the-air update delivery.
  • Vision Camera v5 provides frame-level camera control required for the recording HUD and AR overlays.
  • FFmpeg Kit handles all video processing operations (trimming, re-encoding, C2PA injection) off the main thread.
  • Mapbox GL powers the 3D globe and 2D map views with support for custom data layers.
  • Matrix JS SDK is integrated for secure, encrypted in-app team messaging.

9. Release Criteria

  • All critical user flows are functional end-to-end: record a phenom, view event details, use team chat, and browse the map.
  • C2PA metadata is successfully embedded and verifiable in all captured media before upload.
  • Sensor data (compass, accelerometer, GPS) is correctly paired and stored alongside video recordings.
  • App crash rate does not exceed 1% as measured in production telemetry.
  • TestFlight (iOS) and Google Play internal testing (Android) beta rounds are complete with no blocking issues outstanding.
  • Performance benchmarks are met: sustained 60fps during recording and app cold-launch time under 3 seconds on reference devices.

10. Open Issues/Questions

  • AR overlay data source licensing: usage rights for ADSB (aircraft), AIS (maritime), and satellite position feeds need legal review before public launch.
  • Monetization model: the pricing and gating strategy for premium features (heatmaps, event altitude stick, advanced visualization) has not been finalized.
  • Data sharing agreements with MUFON and NUFORC are pending; the format and frequency of data exports need to be negotiated.
  • Event auto-grouping algorithm design is unresolved — the approach for determining whether multiple user recordings capture the same phenomenon (sensor fusion, location overlap, timestamp correlation) requires further technical design work.

11. Notes/Ideas

  • Desktop website feature parity (section 4) is planned as a post-mobile-launch milestone. The mobile app is the initial delivery target; web data visualization will follow.
  • Growth features listed in section 5 (trajectory extrapolation, automated event grouping) are explicitly post-MVP. They should not gate the initial release.
  • As UAP reporting standards evolve (e.g., through government or academic bodies), consider building integration hooks early so the platform can participate in emerging data exchange protocols without requiring a major rearchitecture.