Project pixie is a state-of-the-art ship navigation system designed with personal experience in mind. Using an array of Fiber Optic Lights built into the flooring of the ship, guests can follow a trail of Pixie Dust to their location. Let's take a look at how this works.

When a guest purchases a ticket and creates an account, they are asked to select three colors for their group. These three colors are not just to personalize the group's Pixie Dust Trail, but also to ensure the trail is easily identifiable in comparison to others. After that, each member of the group can select their own Pixie Piece, which is an active RFID tag that can be made in multiple colors and shapes to be used as bands, necklaces, or pucks that fit in pockets or keyrings. Once the guests are onboard, all they have to do to call on their Pixie is open the app, select a location, tap "Take Me There", and put their phone away.

The physical design of the pixie dust array on the floor was tricky at first. My initial idea was to use an LED array built directly into the floor, which would look amazing but create significant maintenance issues. LEDs often fail and replacing an entire floor over a few dead pixels isn't practical. My second idea involved laser projectors, which are easy to replace when they burn out, but shadows from guests would ruin the effect. Finally, I came up with a solution combining both approaches in a way that makes the experience seamless and the maintenance a breeze. Instead of LEDs, fiber optic strands embedded in the floor would be routed to a wall compartment where a DLP projector casts animations onto a plate connected to the fibers. This technology is similar to that of Fiber Optic Christmas Trees, though on a much more complex scale. Since the fiber optic strands are pure analog, they’re highly durable, and the projector's placement in an accessible wall compartment ensures quick and simple maintenance if needed.

Project Pixie uses an advanced Ultra-Wide-Band RTLS tracking system that is both safe and private. Because the Pixie Pieces are Active RFIDs (meaning the tags are self-powered and send out signals), they can be detected from up to 100 meters away, which means less relay points are required, saving money while ensuring highly accurate tracking down to the nearest one to three feet. UWB RTLS has already been implemented in places like hospitals and airports that have highly sensitive communication and tracking equipment, so it is more than safe for use in a cruise ship environment. For guests concerned with privacy, the Pixie Pieces come with an off switch.

For a child, a cruise ship can be an amazing experience, full of freedom and wonder, but when a child gets lost, or they can't find their parents, that experience quickly turns sour. It can take a magical day and turn it into a nightmare, but what if it didn't have to. What if the nightmare can be taken away, and in its place, a magical moment that stays with the child forever. With Project Pixie, that's possible. When an employee finds a lost kid, they can ask for their name and find their parents on the registry. With a tap of a button, a parental figure is notified that their child is lost and trying to find them. The app then asks permission for their location to be sent over to the employee. When the parent hits "Accept", the employee starts a guidance route to them. The child can then follow the pixie back to their parents while the employee follows closely behind. Once the child has reached their parent, the pixie will swirl around them, enveloping the area with Pixie Dust and leaving the child with a heartwarming memory that will last a lifetime.