# 00 — Executive overview

A one-page map of the proposal. Details and trade-offs live in the linked docs.
Nothing here is a mandate: it is a from-scratch platform sketch the team can
reshape once real constraints are on the table.

## Goal

Build an **on-prem, air-gapped data platform** for an autonomous drone swarm:
accumulate sensor and detection data on each unit, share only what peers need in
flight, and offload complete flights to a ground warehouse for replay and
training.

## Constraints (given)

- No internet / no external access in flight; data stays inside the system.
- Each drone is autonomous; mesh links are intermittent — **no swarm-wide orchestrator**.
- On-board today: **Docker Compose**, **DuckDB**, YOLO-like video analytics; **Parquet** under evaluation.
- **MinIO is already in the stack** — exact placement not fully known yet (see below).
- Ground side can run lightweight Kubernetes; this proposal keeps k3s **on the ground only**.

## Data contract (proposed)

| What | Where | Crosses the air? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Raw telemetry | Local NVMe (Parquet / Hive layout) | **No** — offloads after landing |
| Pose / detections (derived) | Local store + peer pub/sub | **Yes** — small, budgeted |
| Full flight archive | Ground warehouse (Parquet + object store) | After landing only |

One layout on every floor so offload is a **mirror**, not a migration
([03 — Data platform](03-data-platform.md)).

## Sync rule

1. **Fast path:** compact pose frames (~45 B @ 5 Hz) + event-shaped detections.
2. **Bulk path (peers):** sealed derived partitions when the link allows
   (rsync/SSH proposed; alternatives open).
3. **Never** push raw high-rate telemetry peer-to-peer in flight.

## MinIO (first-class, placement TBD)

MinIO is treated as **already chosen infrastructure**, not something to rip out.

| Role | Stance in this sketch |
| --- | --- |
| **Ground warehouse (T3)** | **Primary home** — S3 API under the Parquet lake / offload target |
| **On-board (drone)** | **Default: no** — competes with flight-critical CPU/RAM; local Parquet + DuckDB is enough for the hot path |
| **On-board exception** | Not excluded if a team already relies on an S3 API in Compose; then derived-only, never the 5 Hz pose path |
| **5 Hz pose / collision state** | **Not MinIO** — pub/sub (UDP in the PoC; Zenoh proposed) |
| **Inter-drone history catch-up** | Prefer pull of sealed partitions (SSH/rsync); MinIO replication only if ops already standardised on it |

Open item for the team: document how MinIO is used today, then lock T2/T3 roles
([09 — Open questions](09-open-questions.md)).

## What to read next

1. [12 — Design journey](12-design-journey.md) — narrative + deep links into code  
2. [Implemented vs proposed](../README.md#implemented-now-vs-proposed-next) — PoC vs production intent  
3. [09 — Open questions](09-open-questions.md) — including MinIO placement  

Live visual PoC: [swarm.produktor.io](https://swarm.produktor.io/) (same access as this repository).