Case Study: Skyguide achieves scalable drone traffic management with Microsoft Azure

Switzerland prepares for drones with cloud-based air traffic management

Skyguide, Switzerland’s air navigation service provider, needed a way to manage the rapid rise of drone traffic while still safely handling manned flights in crowded airspace. Working with AirMap and using Microsoft Corporation Azure services, including Azure Kubernetes Service, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure Storage, and Azure Virtual Machines, skyguide set out to build a national drone traffic management system that could scale and support third-party drone and application integration.

Microsoft Corporation provided the cloud platform for the solution, which enabled skyguide and AirMap to automate flight authorizations, integrate drone traffic management with existing airspace infrastructure, and develop a roadmap for Swiss U-space. The Azure-based system gives skyguide the flexibility to scale to millions of drones and to store data locally when needed, helping future-proof operations and support drone market growth.

Skyguide

Robert Fraefel

Head of Swiss U-space