Layer approach to managing airspace of large groups of drones

A method for coordinating drones flying in a divided airspace, the method comprising:

• sending patrol instructions to each drone of a set of airborne drones in a divided airspace, where the divided airspace comprises mutually exclusive horizontal layers having a ceiling altitude and a floor altitude and at least one transition space layer, where the mutually exclusive horizontal layers comprise sectors, where the patrol instructions to each drone direct the drone into a flight path within a sector within the divided airspace, and where the at least one transition space layer is a horizontal layer between two other horizontal layers;
• sending first transition instructions to a first drone of the set of airborne drones, where the first transition instructions direct the first drone to move vertically from its sector into a transition space layer and to horizontally traverse the transition space layer to exit the divided airspace;
• sending second transition instructions to a second drone that is not within the set of airborne drones, where the second transition instructions direct the second drone to move from outside the divided airspace to horizontally traverse a transition space layer and move vertically from the transition space layer into the sector that the first drone left.