Microsoft Azure Partners with AirMap; Develops New Drone Tech

Microsoft Azure has announced that AirMap has selected Microsoft Azure as the company’s exclusive cloud-computing platform for its drone traffic management platform and developer ecosystem.

AirMap partners with “civil aviation authorities, air navigation service providers, and local authorities to implement an airspace management system that supports and enforces secure and responsible access to low-altitude airspace for drones.”

In August, AirMap partnered with Swiss air navigation provider Skyguide to build Europe’s first national UTM system in Switzerland, referred to as U-space.

Sam George Director, Azure Internet of Things said:

“With AirMap’s airspace management platform running on Microsoft Azure, the two companies are delivering a platform that will allow state and local authorities to authorize drone flights and enforce local rules and restrictions on how and when they can be operated. Their solution also enables companies to ensure that compliance and security are a core part of their enterprise workflows that incorporate drones.

AirMap selected Microsoft Azure because it provides the critical cloud-computing infrastructure, security, and reliability needed to run these mission-critical airspace services and orchestrate drone operations around the world.”

Earlier this year, DJI announced a partnership with the software giant to launch new Windows development apps and chose Azure as DJI’s cloud computing partner.

“With that in place, DJI drones could soon be used by commercial pilots in a range of industries alongside Azure’s AI and machine learning capabilities, churning aerial imagery and video data into actionable insights,” noted a DroneLife article at the time.

On Oct. 31 at DJI’s AirWorks conference, Microsoft announced a public preview of the Windows SDK, which allows applications to be written for Windows 10 PCs that control DJI drones. The SDK will also allow the Windows developer community to integrate and control third-party payloads like multispectral sensors, robotic components like custom actuators, and more, exponentially increasing the ways drones can be used in the enterprise.

George adds: “With this SDK, we now have three methods to enable Azure AI services to interact with drone imagery and video in real-time:

• Drone imagery can be sent directly to Azure for processing by an AI workload.
• Drone imagery can be processed on Windows running Azure IoT Edge with an AI workload.
• Drone imagery can be processed directly onboard drones running Azure IoT Edge with an AI workload.”