IPN Merges Drone Swarms and Artificial Intelligence to Address Social and Industrial Challenges

• Dr. Rodolfo Vera Amaro from UPIITA affirms that his Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are equipped with artificial intelligence to operate collectively with a leader.

• To enable this technology, neural networks were trained with an algorithm containing 15,000 data points.

• The fusion of these two technologies is proposed for precision agriculture, disaster assistance, endangered animal monitoring, and support in the mining sector.

The evolution of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, and advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been combined by Dr. Rodolfo Vera Amaro, a researcher at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), to address various social and industrial challenges.

Dr. Vera Amaro, affiliated with the Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria en Ingeniería y Tecnologías Avanzadas (UPIITA), stated that drones are currently used for various activities that benefit society, including sectors such as agriculture, enterprise surveillance, and search and rescue operations, among others.

To enable UAVs to make real-time decisions while maintaining their formation, neural networks had to be trained with an algorithm containing 15,000 data points and over 5,000 additional data points for performance testing.

"During a research stay at Virginia Tech in the United States, I discovered that tasks assigned to drones could be executed more efficiently, optimizing energy and time by employing a coordinated and autonomous system involving three or more drones."

The researcher, who holds a Master of Science in Telecommunications Engineering from the Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica (ESIME), Zacatenco unit, explained that unlike exhibition drones, which form aerial figures based on pre-programmed instructions, a coordinated system enables UAVs to communicate with each other, maintaining formation during flight through control algorithms or artificial intelligence.

The UPIITA professor proposes several applications, including precision agriculture, where a swarm of drones can strategically distribute irrigation or pesticides; search and rescue assistance in natural disasters; and the monitoring of endangered animals.

He added that the UAVs, developed by the research group Drones UPIITA under his supervision, communicate their geographic positions via radio frequency transmission systems. However, the type of communication system may vary depending on the specific application or environment.

"If we are conducting agricultural activities or monitoring wildfire outbreaks in forested areas, the drone swarm would require long-range, low-energy communication, as Wi-Fi or cellular coverage is typically unavailable in such locations," the IPN researcher explained.

The research project focuses on three drones: one leader and two followers. These drones have been equipped with an AI algorithm that, through training, enables them to fly together in a coordinated manner while maintaining formation. They can also interact with their environment to avoid obstacles or autonomously detect and respond to objects and individuals.

Dr. Vera Amaro asserts that this technology is in its early stages worldwide and is not yet commercially available. This is due to its open-source hardware and software architecture, allowing the drones to be customized in size, weight, and programming to meet specific needs.

Promoting and expanding the benefits of this innovation is a priority for the IPN professor. For this reason, he has submitted the project to the IPN's Technological Business Incubation Directorate (DIET) and invites interested individuals to visit the Facebook page: "Grupo de drones UPIITA."

For more information, visit www.ipn.mx