What’s Involved With Scaling Up Unmanned Traffic Management sSstems?

Amit Ganjoo is Founder & CEO of Washington DC based ANRA Technologies, an award winning drone operations and UAS Traffic Management platform.  It’s one thing to develop a UTM system to track a few drones, but it’s a much different challenge when the number of drones climb into the hundreds and even thousands.  Anra’s UTM and Mission Management system is designed to meet this challenge and is used by commercial and government entities for managing commercial drone operations at scale. 

Amit has over 20 years of aviation, telecom and wireless experience in both the federal and the commercial space. He is an engineer and a licensed pilot pursuing his lifelong passion in aviation by building and flying experimental aircraft.

As part of his pursuit to efficiently integrate drones into the airspace, Amit is a board member of the Global UTM Association that supports the accelerated and transparent implementation of globally interoperable UTM systems. He is also a member of FAA’s Drone Advisory Committee working group for UTM.

Prior to founding ANRA Technologies, Amit was co-chair for the FCC Technical Advisory Council (TAC) for 5G and IoT, which included ground and airborne autonomous vehicles. He was the Director of Engineering and Principal Architect at Ericsson, providing telecom solutions to commercial customers and the Federal Government, where he was the recipient of the Athena Award.

Amit is an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Engineering and volunteers at a local Maker Space in the D.C. area. He holds a master’s degree in Computer Science and Civil Engineering from Iowa State University and a Bachelor of Engineering from Punjab Engineering College.

In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Amit talks about Anra Technologies’ UTM and Mission Management system, how it can help enterprise companies safely and efficiently scale operations and the future of unmanned traffic management.

What’s it Take to Grow Your Brand in the Drone Industry?

Desi Ekstein is founder of “On The Go Video.biz”, a drone services provider and educator for the UAS industry since 2015. On the To Video provides consulting, training, and safety education services. 

I interviewed Desi five years ago, when she had just entered the drone industry.  At that time, her passion for drones earned her the nickname, “Drone Diva Desi”.  And over the years, that passion has continued to drive her forward.  Since 2015, her list of accomplishments is impressive. 

Desi is one of the first women to obtain an FAA Certified 107 Remote Pilot certificate and a member of the FAA Wings program.  She is a graduate of the Gold Seal UAV Ground School, a Lead FAASTeam Representative Drone Pro in San Diego, an AUVSI San Diego Board member, and a AUVSI TOP Level 3 pilot. She is an UAS Operations instructor at TCI MiraCosta College and has a night endorsement. Desi is involved with several STEM and STEAM outreach programs such as, the Elementary Science Institute “Girls Take Flight” program for young women. She is also an advisor to Women and Drones.

In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Desi traces her path from part-time hobbyist to full-time commercial drone operator and educator.  She shares her experiences, provides some advice and lessons learn and shows that anyone with a passion and time, can establish a successful presence in the drone industry.

Can a STEAM based education program empower youth to pursue a fulfilling career path in the UAV industry?

Jesse Pacheco is Founder and CEO of Drone Forward, a nonprofit organization with the goal of solidifying the link between education and future jobs in the unmanned systems field. Drone Forward’s mission is to strengthen the contributions of robotics and unmanned vehicle technologies to the US economy. It does this by providing youth in diverse American communities with educational opportunities and experiences that lead to drone related careers of the future.

Over the course of his career, Jesse has designed and implemented comprehensive organizational structures to enrich the quality of client services in the companies he worked.

His dedication to creating and facilitating community activities for organizations has contributed to significant growth and clientele retention. In 2019, he founded Drone Forward as force to advance STEAM principles through unmanned vehicles.  In this edition of the Drone Radio Show, Jesse talks about Drone Forward, what makes this organization different from other STEAM programs and he shares his excitement in introducing young adults to a variety of rewarding drone careers.

Do drones have a place in supporting social movements?

Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick is an author, educator, and speaker. Austin’s work focuses on politics, culture, technology, and social change. He holds concurrent academic appointments at the University of San Diego and University of Nottingham and has been a visiting scholar at Oxford, University of California at San Diego, and Yale.  He is the author of several books and commentaries on social movements.  His recent book, The Good Drone: How Social Movements Democratize Surveillance shows how small-scale drones, satellites, kites, and balloons are used by social movements for the greater good. 

Politics and technology have always had a complicated relationship. Social media has upended assumptions about how politicians, voters, and protestors communicate. In this episode of the Drone Radio Show, Austin talks about The Good Drone, and demonstrates the importance of technology to politics. But argues we mustn't stop with social media. New technology in the air (drones, for example) changes politics on the ground, and democratizes surveillance along the way.