Never miss an episode
Get new Travel Tech Podcast episodes, aviation AI insights, and use-case deep dives delivered to your inbox.
The Telecom-to-Aviation Playbook for Scaling Airspace Systems
Aviation's infrastructure challenges through the lens of telecommunications history — why interoperability and regulatory alignment from telecom's transition apply to modern drone systems, UTM, and advanced air mobility.
Show Notes
Amit Ganjoo, a long-standing leader in drone traffic management, UTM, and U-Space systems, joins Alex Brooker to explore how interoperability and regulatory alignment — lessons learned during telecom's transition from fragmented standards — apply to modern drone systems, unmanned traffic management, and advanced air mobility. The conversation covers why complex systems fail at interfaces, the role of certification in organisational change, and strategies for moving from experimental to operational airspace infrastructure.
Click to expand the full episode transcript (6,787 words approx.)
Use cases discussed
Aviation AI use cases from our catalogue that this conversation touches on.
Automated airspace deconfliction and dynamic airspace management using AI-powered decision support systems.
ANRA's UTM platform is the episode's central product, managing shared airspace for thousands of daily BVLOS operations across Amazon, DoorDash, and New York Power Authority.
Read use caseAutomated compliance checks to ensure UAS operations adhere to regulatory requirements.
EASA certification and FAA near-term LOA approval processes for ANRA's UTM system are discussed in depth, including tracing requirements to individual lines of code.
Read use caseAutomated UAS flight plan approval and airspace reservation processes using AI-driven decision-making algorithms.
ANRA's platform handles flight plan approvals for BVLOS commercial operators like Amazon and DoorDash, scaling from hundreds to thousands of daily operations.
Read use caseReal-time monitoring and anomaly detection in UAS operations to quickly identify and respond to potential safety issues.
New York Power Authority uses ANRA's centralised operations centre to monitor hundreds of daily drone flights; conformance monitoring named as a service being added iteratively.
Read use caseAutomated risk assessment and mitigation strategies for integrating UAS into the national airspace system.
Airspace risk assessment is described as the key bottleneck holding back U-space designation and commercial scaling in Europe.
Read use caseImplement simulation-based optimization to test and validate air traffic management strategies before implementation.
Iterative spiral testing with FAA and replication of US Shared Airspace Initiative in UK to validate UTM strategies before operationalisation is explicitly discussed.
Read use caseExplainable AI systems to provide transparency and interpretability of safety-critical decisions.
Amit explicitly states AI in aviation must be deterministic with governance rules and human accountability, directly addressing transparency in safety-critical decisions.
Read use caseDevelop a centralized data platform to integrate and analyze data from various UAS sensors, maintenance records, and incident reports, enabling data-driven decision-making.
Dubai ANSP deployment integrates defense, military, security, commercial drones, and AAM into a single centralized UTM system, explicitly described by Amit.
Read use caseEp 5: Is AI in a Bubble? What Happens When Hype Meets Regulation
Ep 7: Airports Still Run on 1980s Software: Why the Industry Is Moving Beyond AODB-Centric Operations
Building AI for Aviation?
Airside Labs helps aviation organisations validate AI systems before deployment. From adversarial testing to compliance evaluation, we bring 25+ years of aviation data expertise to ensure your AI is safe, compliant, and production-ready.
About the Travel Tech Podcast
Hosted by Alex Brooker, founder of Airside Labs, the Travel Tech Podcast features authentic long-form conversations with leaders, innovators, and startup founders shaping the future of aviation and travel technology. No scripts, no sponsors, no sales pitches — just real conversations about building technology that matters.