Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
Alan Hunter is a Professor in Autonomous Systems in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His research interests are in underwater acoustics, signal processing, imaging, and machine intelligence. He is particularly interested in applications in underwater remote sensing using sonar and marine robotics.
Alan is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.
Biography
Alan was born in New Zealand and studied at the University of Canterbury (NZ), obtaining a BE(Hons I) degree in electrical and electronic engineering in 2001 and a PhD on synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) in 2006. He left New Zealand for Europe in 2007.
For the next three years, Alan was a research associate at the University of Bristol, where he worked with ultrasonic arrays for non-destructively inspecting engineering components. Here, he developed auto-focusing algorithms for imaging the interiors of objects with complex geometries and material properties.
In 2010, he moved to the Netherlands and spent four years as a defence scientist at TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Research) in The Hague. At TNO, he developed underwater technologies for the Royal Dutch Navy, including sub-sediment imaging sonar, diver detection sonar, and autonomous naval mine-hunting systems.
Before returning to England in 2014, Alan spent three months in La Spezia, Italy as a visiting scientist at the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). During this time, he developed precision micro-navigation algorithms for SAS imaging of the seafloor over repeated passes.
Research areas
Willing to supervise doctoral students
Interested in supervising students studying:
- Underwater acoustics
- Synthetic aperture sonar imaging of the seafloor
- Low-frequency broadband acoustic scattering
- Non-destructive inspection using ultrasonic arrays
- Marine robotics and autonomous systems
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
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TESSMEX3 - Underwater Vehicle TES/RAN Measurements & De-Risking for TESSMEX M32 Measurements
Hunter, A. (PI) & Rymansaib, Z. (Researcher)
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
4/11/24 → 31/03/26
Project: Central government, health and local authorities
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Self-Learning Wing Trim Optimisation for AirWing Wind Propulsion System
Sell, N. (PI), Bull, S. (CoI), Hunter, A. (CoI) & Şimşek, Ö. (CoI)
Innovate UK, Innovate UK Business Connect
1/11/24 → 31/03/25
Project: Central government, health and local authorities
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Human-Machine Learning of Ambiguities to Support Safe, Effective, and Legal Decision Making
Hunter, A. (PI)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
15/06/23 → 14/06/26
Project: Research council
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UK Acoustics Network Plus
Hunter, A. (PI)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
1/04/21 → 31/03/25
Project: Research council
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Pump priming for HORIZON-CL5-2024-D3-02
Young, A. (PI), Blondel, P. (CoI), Hunter, A. (CoI) & Reale, C. (CoI)
1/03/24 → 31/12/24
Project: Research council
Research output
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Automated Recognition of Submerged Body-like Objects in Sonar Images Using Convolutional Neural Networks
Nga, Y. Z., Rymansaib, Z., Anthony Treloar, A. & Hunter, A. J., 1 Nov 2024, In: Remote Sensing. 16, 21, 4036.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
Fourier-Domain Wavefield Rendering for Rapid Simulation of Synthetic Aperture Sonar Data
Sanford, C. J., Thomas, B. W. & Hunter, A. J., 31 Oct 2024, In: IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering. 49, 4, p. 1501-1515Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile39 Downloads (Pure) -
Identifying Optimal Launch Sites of High-Altitude Latex-Balloons using Bayesian Optimisation for the Task of Station-Keeping
Saunders, J. E., Saeedi, S., Hartshorne, A., Xu, B., Şimşek, Ö., Hunter, A. J. & Li, W., 16 Mar 2024, arXiv.Research output: Working paper / Preprint › Preprint
Open AccessFile9 Downloads (Pure) -
Occlusion Modeling for Coherent Echo Data Simulation: A Comparison Between Ray-Tracing and Convex-Hull Occlusion Methods
Thomas, B., Sanford, C. & Hunter, A. J., 31 Jul 2024, In: IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering. 49, 3, p. 944-962 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile268 Downloads (Pure) -
Real-time In-Situ Passive Acoustic Array Beamforming from the AutoNaut Wave-Propelled Uncrewed Surface Vessel
Anthony Treloar, A., Maclean, H., Bujalka, J., Narramore, J., Thomas, B., Blondel, P. & Hunter, A. J., 31 Jul 2024, In: IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering. 49, 3, p. 713-726 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile158 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Sidescan sonar images for training automated recognition of submerged body-like objects
Rymansaib, Z. (Creator), Nga, Y. (Creator), Anthony Treloar, A. (Creator) & Hunter, A. (Creator), University of Bath, 30 Oct 2024
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-01467
Dataset
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Dataset for "Breaking Wave Imaging using Lidar and Sonar"
Blenkinsopp, C. (Creator), Hunter, A. (Creator), Bayle, P. (Creator) & Bryan, O. (Creator), University of Bath, 20 Mar 2019
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00623
Dataset
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Simulated Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar (InSAS) Data of the SS Thistlegorm Wreck
Thomas, B. (Creator), Hunter, A. (Creator) & Brown, S. (Contributor), University of Bath, 10 May 2023
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-01219
Dataset
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Dataset for "Parameter Reduction and Optimisation for Point Cloud and Occupancy Mapping Algorithms"
Miao, Y. (Creator), Hunter, A. (Creator) & Georgilas, I. (Creator), University of Bath, 14 Jun 2021
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00594
Dataset