We talked to Sebastian Babiarz, Co-President of GUTMA, about his responsibilities within the board and his work at Dronheub.
You have recently renewed your mandate as Co-President, now representing Dronehub. Can you tell us more about your role at GUTMA?
As a Co-President, I am part of the Executive GUTMA team (2nd Co-president, Secretary General and Ops team). I am responsible for implementing GUTMA’s long-term strategic vision, the constant monitoring of the implementation plan and the day-to-day operational decisions. As the current Interim Treasurer, I supervise the overall financial dimension of the Association.
It is also my responsibility to ensure that the long-lasting relationships GUTMA entertains with its partners and other stakeholders in the UTM sector remain highly regarded as important resources for a successful UAS integration. Internal cohesion and mutual respect are also fundamental aspects of a healthy organizational environment. That is why continuous interaction and transparent communication between the rest of the Executive Team and me are highly prioritized by my co-presidency at GUTMA.
What industry problems is Dronehub solving?
The drone service market has several challenges, but the main one is business sustainability. We understood to grow this market and to deliver the value that customers need, we must enable highly automated drone services with almost no human interaction. We have heard from our customers and partners that setting the Dronehub system in a very remote location, allowing drones to fly autonomously will solve that problem and reduce the operational costs. We are looking now at how to make it broad and even more flexible to implement new services.
There are two significant problems that Dronehub is fixing in the industry. First of all, as you may know, every copter-type drone is flying for approximately half an hour, and afterward, we need an operator to land the drone, swap the battery, switch the mission again so that the drone can fly another half an hour. As Dronehub, we have created an autonomous docking station (a hub) wherein drones can land autonomously, swap the battery, and continue the mission. And all this without the human operator involved.
The second problem is that the drone by itself is just a flying camera that generates a considerable amount of information, and usually, it takes plenty of time for humans to process it. As Dronehub, we have created the complete framework with Machine Learning to convert aerial data into actionable business insights, and all this autonomously, without human involvement.
How does GUTMA foster collaboration with the UTM ecosystem? What are the opportunities brought about by an association gathering all stakeholders of the value chain?
GUTMA is the most experienced voice in the drone and UTM ecosystem. As such, the Association has positioned itself at the center of the vast global network of stakeholders committed to achieving the full integration of Unmanned Systems into the existing air traffic management infrastructure.
To reach that objective, GUTMA has been fostering a concerted approach that brings actors from all angles of the UTM value chain to the same table. For instance, through the Aerial Connectivity Joint Activity (ACJA) initiative, established with GSMA, GUTMA has created a bridge between the aviation and mobile industry.
This collaboration is already facilitating the bidirectional sharing of know-how and fruitful cooperation in standards, which GUTMA is currently developing with other leading Standards Development Organizations (SDOs). The pooling of competencies enabled by this approach is paving the way for a fast, secure, and reliable harmonization of the global UTM ecosystem in coordination with our members and aviation safety authorities. New memberships and partnerships will only bring additional value to our multi-stakeholder approach, proving to be highly effective.
ABOUT SEBASTIAN BABIARZ
Sebastian Babiarz is VP of Business Development at Dronehub, where he identifies and evaluates new opportunities throughout Europe for the drone-in-a-box solution. Additionally, Sebastian advises and collaborates with European regulators and standards organizations as they work to build regional regulatory frameworks to enable safe and scalable drone operations. With over 16 years of business experience in the drone and telecom industry, Sebastian is passionate about new technology and automation and how they can improve lives. Sebastian spent the last four years as Heading Strategic Business Development at AirMap, successfully built the AirMap business across the EMEA region.
Prior AirMap, he has focused on driving innovation within the mobile telecom industry through drones as well as the role drones play in a connected society and within the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. Previously, Sebastian held various positions in mobile networks R&D for Nokia, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent.
Co-founder of GUTMA, he has been the co-president of the Association for the last two years. In addition, he also is a board member.
ABOUT DRONEHUB
Dronehub builds autonomous drone-in-a-box solutions for companies with large infrastructure to automate UAV missions, get real-time aerial data and exclude human factors. Their goal is to replace human operators with AI-based software and autonomous ground infrastructure.
Dronehub is the only manufacturer in the world that offers monitoring, inspection, and measurement system, cargo transport system, and mobile ground infrastructure. It is also the world’s first and the only European producer of a docking station with automatic battery replacement in a drone. Thanks to this innovative solution, drones can perform missions 24/7 without human intervention.
Visit dronehub.ai and find Dronehub on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.