In 2014, the cooperation agreement between KhAI and the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) was extended, providing for scientific exchange, internships, joint publications, as well as participation in international programs.
The National Polytechnic Institute is the most significant scientific, academic, and technological center in Mexico. It offers 293 academic courses, including 78 technical professions, and 80 majors focused on economic, humanitarian, social, and natural sciences. Additionally, there are 135 specialized postgraduate courses. The institute has approximately 170,000 alumni, 16,000 of whom have become research professionals. IPN comprises 15 faculties across various scientific fields (physics and mathematics, medicine, administration, humanities, etc.), 20 research institutes and facilities distributed across 22 different states, and its own scientific television channel, "OnceTV." Over 70 years of dedicated work have demonstrated the institute's role in Mexico's higher education system and the quality of its science and technology, educating students worthy of becoming national leaders with broad social recognition.
Annually, under the internship program, KhAI hosts a group of students and postgraduate students from the National Polytechnic Institute for courses related to the development of automatic control systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and complexes (Department 305), as well as the modeling and development of aerodynamic configurations for miniature autonomous aerial vehicles (Department 101).
There is high interest among students and postgraduates of Department 305 at KhAI in collaborating on successful joint projects with IPN students, specifically in development and testing. Thus, in 2014-2015, in collaboration with the student scientific circle for functionally stable control of dynamic objects and processes (led by S.M. Firsov) and IPN students, an unmanned aerial vehicle was created. This UAV (tested at the military base of the National Guard of Ukraine) is capable of autonomous flight along a predetermined route with the ability to adjust the path mid-flight, perform automatic takeoff and landing, and conduct real-time photo and video surveillance of the underlying surface.
Currently, IPN offers a wide range of internship opportunities for KhAI students, faculty, and researchers, as well as professional development courses within relevant programs.
As part of this program, Master's student V.A. Vasilyev and postgraduate student I.V. Zhezhera (both from Department 305) are undergoing training and internships at IPN, focusing on the development of functionally stable automatic control systems for UAVs.
The expected result of this cooperation is the development of a production-ready UAV model with a wide range of capabilities for both flight control and onboard equipment management. Furthermore, this partnership will produce Master's and Ph.D. theses based on real experimental data. Future cooperation involves the exchange of interns both to Mexico and to the halls of KhAI.