Project Wing, the drone program from Google Inc. parent Alphabet Inc., just hit a new milestone by demonstrating that its air traffic management platform for unmanned aircraft systems works.

The successful test revealed Wednesday was part of a set of nationwide tests being undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration. It saw Project Wing drones deployed and managed alongside drones from Intel Corp. and Dà-Jiāng Innovations Science and Technology Co. Ltd., with no crashes in a simulated urban environment.

When most people think of drones, they may not realize that air traffic management for drones is as important as the rest of the technology. The FAA estimates there will be 1.6 million commercial drones over the skies of the United States by 2021.

Like larger aircraft, the airspace drones operate in requires management for safety purposes, primarily so the devices don’t crash into each other. The automated platform as demonstrated by Project Wing allows real-time route planning for drones in the same area, the transmission of notifications to operators of any unexpected changes to the aircraft of route, and notifications regarding no-fly zones and safety-sensitive areas.

“During yesterday’s tests, we showed that our traffic management platform can manage the complex flight paths of multiple UAS [unmanned aircraft systems] at the same time,” Project Wing Co-Lead James Ryan said in a post on Medium. “This is an important step that paves the way to a future where many UAS operators can fly safely together.”

The test was also notable for the number of controllers used in flying the Project Wing drones. In this case, one operator controlled all three drones in the sky. Ryan noted that the platform demonstrates that it’s “possible for a single operator — a person or organization — to fly multiple aircraft simultaneously.”

Photo: Project Wing