---
tags: [project-drogheda, ethos, principles]
project: Project Drogheda
author: Helgen CTO
date: 2026-06-20
status: Active
---

# Drogheda — Project & Product Ethos

> Why we build HBOX the way we do. When a decision is unclear, it should be
> resolved in favor of these principles. Short on purpose.

## The mission

Give port operators **position they can trust** on equipment that runs in one of
the most hostile environments we ship into — heat, salt, vibration, dust, around
the clock. Centimetres, continuously, unattended.

## Principles

1. **Production-grade, not academic.** The ICAVE review was fair: prototype
   wiring belongs on a bench, not on an RTG. Every unit we ship is repeatable,
   documented, and assembled the same way. No Dupont in the field. No "it works
   on mine."

2. **Fail-safe and self-healing.** Power-off is the safe state. The watchdog
   recovers the link by itself and, when it can't, **keeps reporting standalone
   position rather than going dark**. A unit must never silently disappear, and
   never thrash in a reboot loop.

3. **Survive the environment — don't fight it.** We design for the cabinet's real
   interior temperature, not the spec-sheet ambient. No materials that soften in
   the sun (no PLA-class material; the current ASA case complies). Cooling by
   conduction (or an engineered waterproof duct), sealing kept (IP67). Heat, vibration,
   and humidity are requirements, not surprises.

4. **Measure before you blame; rule out the cheap cause first.** A "dead" unit is
   guilty until the logs say so. Backend, SIM, and caster get checked before a
   truck rolls. Every unit carries enough telemetry to tell its own story.

5. **Observable by design.** Temperature, battery, fix quality, resets — logged.
   If we can't see it, we can't fix it, and we can't prove it to the client.

6. **One source of truth.** One BOM, one folder structure, one master index
   (`CLAUDE.md`). The Drive mirrors it. Versioned, dated, no "final_v3_real".

7. **ICAVE is the stress lab.** We harden in the worst terminal first. What
   survives Veracruz ships clean to TIMSA, EIT, and LCT.

## What "done" means

A unit is done when it **boots, fixes, transmits, recovers from a forced outage
without looping, survives a sunny-shift soak, and a stranger can build the next
one from the BOM and assembly doc.** Not before.

## Related

- [[CLAUDE|Master Index]] · [[01-Requirements/SRS|SRS]] · [[00-Project-Management/PLAN|PLAN]]