Among the chaos of COVID turning the industry on its head, it’s often easy to forget the effect this once-in-a-century event has had on the unsung heroes in air traffic control, and the tech that supports them. In this special episode of the Australian Aviation Podcast, Adam Thorn speaks to Martin Rampl, the managing director of Frequentis Australasia, which supplies the communication and information systems to our air traffic control centres. Martin reveals how his team rapidly changed the way they worked to support our critical infrastructure during those heady days in late March. He also discusses the secrets behind the science of communicating with aircraft, how reliability can make the difference between life and death, and why our technology must keep evolving to ensure Australian aviation remains well connected and safe.