SRT Marine
A global leader in maritime domain awareness, SRT Marine has pioneered marine monitoring and navigation technology for over 30 years. Its products - used by governments and commercial fleets worldwide - support vessel tracking, communication, and safety-critical operations.
With a vision to modernise traditional VHF and AIS systems, SRT set out to create a mobile solution that would complement their new NEXUS VHF Radio Base Unit. SRT Marine’s goal: a cross-platform app offering advanced radio communication, seamless connectivity, and crew safety capabilities - including the complex Man Overboard feature, a challenge avoided by competitors.
In 2022, SRT approached New Icon via The Product Partnership (TPP) to design and develop a mobile and wearable companion app that could:
The challenge was not only technical but systemic. Maritime communication systems are bound by stringent safety legislation, connectivity limitations, and deeply entrenched user behaviours. This required our team to reimagine existing workflows while ensuring compliance with international maritime standards.
A key objective was the implementation of a robust Man Overboard (MOB) alert system - an industry-first in mobile marine technology. This feature had to function reliably across varied hardware, network conditions, and use environments. Achieving this demanded low-latency responsiveness, synchronised visual and audio alerts, and high fault-tolerance. Integrating these into a seamless and intuitive user interface added another layer of complexity.
The solution also needed to bridge the gap between hardware systems and modern mobile technologies, integrating embedded radio hardware with custom APIs, live data streams, and dynamic channel control - all within an app that could be used intuitively by diverse crew members with differing technical skill levels.
We began with a deep discovery phase, mapping real-world maritime workflows through workshops and early-stage prototyping. In collaboration with hardware partner Realise, we developed UX flows tailored to shipboard life and tested clickable prototypes with stakeholders at sea.
Our process included:
UX flow planning for marine-specific behaviours
Prototype creation and user testing
Integration planning with hardware and API layers
Collaboration with TPP partners to ensure end-to-end alignment
End-to-end user testing, including multiple in-person sessions with SRT to test the radios and app together
Our design team also explored wearable concepts, producing compact wrist-mounted interface prototypes for hands-free communication - an avenue SRT may explore in future development phases.
New Icon developed a mobile app that connects with the NEXUS VHF Radio Base Unit, transforming mobile devices into interactive radio interfaces.
To meet the stringent demands of marine-grade performance, we implemented a hybrid architecture that balanced shared code efficiencies with fully native functionality. Using Java and Kotlin, our team built real-time features that supported latency-sensitive communication and dynamic channel management.
Key app features include:
We also implemented an event-driven architecture with WebSocket-based real-time synchronisation, ensuring consistent data flow between app and hardware, even under low-bandwidth conditions. Rigorous testing under simulated marine conditions informed UX refinements and performance tuning.
The app’s design mirrored the hardware UI for seamless interaction, while colour coding and iconography were carefully chosen to maximise clarity and legibility in high-glare, high-motion maritime settings.
The result is an industry-first companion mobile app that blends intuitive design with technical precision. It enables seamless interaction with SRT’s hardware, enhances onboard communication, and improves crew safety in demanding marine environments.
By aligning app workflows with the physical design of the radio base unit, the solution delivers a cohesive and integrated user experience across devices. The system has been successfully tested in field trials and is entering active deployment aboard vessels.
The Man Overboard feature marks a significant industry innovation - delivering rapid alerts, real-time tracking, and clear visual feedback to support emergency response procedures. Real-time synchronisation with the onboard unit ensures communications remain stable and uninterrupted, even in remote areas.
With device-agnostic deployment and responsive design tailored for harsh maritime environments, the app offers a scalable, future-ready solution. SRT now delivers a modernised communication platform that meets maritime-grade expectations, reinforces safety protocols, and paves the way for future digital enhancements, including further wearable integrations and AI-assisted diagnostics.
Together, SRT and New Icon have redefined the standard for marine radio solutions - merging decades of hardware expertise with cutting-edge software design to enable safer, smarter, and more connected operations at sea.
Their attention to detail and ability to break down complex content into digestible, engaging visuals is exactly what we needed.
Working with the Design team and the wider New Icon team has been a fantastic experience. Their attention to detail and ability to break down complex content into digestible, engaging visuals is exactly what we needed. Every edit exceeded expectations and truly reflected what we had envisioned for the final prototype. Highly recommend! "
Each meeting brought real progress and meaningful change, and the team dynamic was warm, collaborative, and easy to work with.
From the very first interaction, New Icon stood out. Their combination of clear, concise documentation and an explanatory video was genius—it gave us immediate clarity and confidence. The Discovery process, especially the Agile Architecture, felt like a genuine offer to help, not a hard sell. Each meeting brought real progress and meaningful change, and the team dynamic was warm, collaborative, and easy to work with. The use of Figma to showcase their design-led approach was impressive, and the achievable PoC cost made things feel within reach. One of the biggest wins? We retained the IP. That was huge. New Icon didn’t just understand our problems, they explained them back to us better than we could ourselves. That alone gave us massive trust in the team and the process. "
New lcon’s deliverables have exceeded our expectations.
We would like to thank the New Icon team for the work accomplished. OnePRESS will be the first wireless safety critical opportunity that will use a mobile application to go to an In-Service Evaluation with Airbus airline customers. As such, there was no precedent for the Landing Gear Design Office to start from. Newicon quickly understood that their expertise could complement our capability to compile design documentation and adapted their process to suit our needs. New lcon’s deliverables have exceeded our expectations. "
Newicon understood our needs, ensuring solutions were current and future-proofed
Ethicall have worked with Newicon for approximately 10 years. During this time Newicon have worked with us on various projects, but predominantly they have helped us design and build a bespoke telephone fundraising software system which encompasses all the nuanced and niche elements of our business. They really took the time to understand what we needed as a fundraising call centre and then constantly revisited this with us to ensure it was still fit for purpose and future proof. The engineers working on the project have always been mindful of building in stages with regular testing and approval from users – they are also able to communicate in non-technical speak – which is always useful for those of us not from a technical background. Newicon’s recent introduction of project managers has enhanced their services further. "
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Newicon’s ability to over deliver against our expectations and to help drive our innovation has made them an extension of our own business. The team are excellent to work with, and their passion for our business competes with our own. I would recommend Newicon for both your development and design needs. "
You’ve understood the project quicker and got further with the design in 3 weeks than our previous company did in a year.
I’m very impressed with how you’ve interpreted the brief and interviews!
You have captured the use case and functionality really well. "
You've done an amazing job of taking our concept and actualising it into something much more real!
This process has cemented our concepts into requirements, plans and something much easier to step forward with, both internally and as something we can tell the story to others. We've been particularly impressed with how you've taken a fairly niche topic and run with detailed concepts and clearly understood what we are aiming for! "
We're miles ahead of where I expected us to be at this stage, and we've all really appreciated the effort you've put in.
Everyone is really, really happy and pleased with what you've put together, blown away! We love the simplicity of the prototype. "
The project is well thought through, smartly taking into account every little request we had. Which is amazing, I love that!
I've been using the prototype to pitch the idea with potential clients and the feedback has been really good so far. "
We really love the overall look of this
It's a very clean simple interface which still clearly conveys a lot of really important information, so thank you! "
Very happy with the end results and designs for the new features
New Icons redesigns brought the app layout up to date which was amazing to implement over the last year alongside integrating new products into the app. Meeting face-to-face meant that New Icon could properly understand the requirements and turn them into fully functional designs that added to the overall user experience. Very happy with the end results and designs for the new features. "
Newicon is an exemplar of innovation and freethinking.
Newicon's ideas have pioneered mobile software development within my department. Their solutions are innovative and effective producing results above original expectations. "
Newicon took the time to fully understand our requirements, and the clickable prototype really helped shape our thinking.
It has been a pleasure collaborating with Newicon on this project. Their commitment, attention to detail and passion for their work has enabled us to produce a quality app and seek further investment. Newicon took the time to fully understand our requirements, and the clickable prototype really helped shape our thinking and produced an intuitive UX, whilst also de-risking the development phase. "
Newicon achieved a 35% increase in business. Newicon really understood what we wanted to achieve.
Very commercially aware and versatile software agency - and a great team to boot!
Newicon give us creative input and state of the art technology
Newicon have helped steer our business in directions we had not even considered. "
Newicon are a great company, they are passionate and always provide a second to none service.
From the design stages through to the technical implementation they understand our requirements as a company. We would highly recommend Newicon to anyone who is looking for a friendly, efficient and professional web and software design company. "
If you need bespoke technology, I highly recommend Newicon.
By working with us to build our platform, they helped lay the foundation for our success. Not only did they develop the software; their process also included UX design and prototyping, ensuring that our final product was user-friendly, secure and powerful. If you need bespoke technology to get your start-up into business, I highly recommend Newicon to deliver it for you. "
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