James Flint is Senior Lecturer in Wireless Systems Engineering and Head of the Communications Research Division within the department. His research focuses on various aspects of wireless systems, especially in the area of transducer design in electromagnetic and acoustics. He has a keen interest in biomimetics, ultrasound and on converting systems found in nature into workable engineering solutions.
Topics currently being studied include wearable antennas, the role of band gap structures in bioacoustics, broadband antennas, acoustic signal processing for leak detection in pipes, novel metamaterials and numerical modelling using the Transmission Line Matrix technique.
Dr Flint was previously employed in the automotive industry and maintains an interest in safety-critical systems, installed performance of antennas and electromagnetic compatibility. In recent years Dr Flint has had a particular interest in band gap structures (both electromagnetic and acoustic) and has several publications in the area.
Other departmental activities include acting as Student Advisor for the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), serving as the Chair of the Academic Practice committee and teaching modules in the general area of electronics and communications.
Dr Flint's external activities include acting as an elected representative on the Council of The Institution of Engineering and Technology.
He is a currently a department representative on the Engineering Faculty Board.
Expertise
Adaptive and blind signal processing
Advanced actuator technologies
Antennas
Communications
Failure of electronic devices
Fixed and mobile communication systems
Frequency-selective surfaces
Integration of complex systems
Leaky wave antennas
Metamaterials
Microwave and mm-wave engineering
Sensors
Signal Processing
Systems Engineering
Wearable computing
Wireless Communications
Bioacoustics
Wind power
Keywords
dolphin
biomimetics
porpoise
underwater acoustics
bioacoustics
biosonar
ultrasonics
leak detection
transmission line matrix modelling
computational electromagnetics
EMC
electromagnetic compatibility
defence technology
TLM
electromagnetic
Dr Flint started his education in Belper, Derbyshire and studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering at university, graduating from Loughborough in 1996. He subsequently read for a PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering being sponsored on an EPSRC CASE studentship by MIRA Ltd. Following graduation he was employed by MIRA as a Project Engineer, carrying out automotive consultancy work.
He returned to Loughborough in 2001 as a lecturer, being promoted to Senior Lecturer by the ‘Research’ route in 2006.
His research has been supported in the past by charities (Nuffield Foundation, Royal Society), public bodies (EPSRC, European Commission), private companies (from the following sectors: automotive, aeronautical, civil engineering, consumer electronics and defence), and by government agencies.
Consultancy activities have included providing electronics design advice to an aeronautical component manufacturer, advising on electromagnetic compatibility and performing electromagnetic measurements at a major sporting venue, constructing a novel acoustic transducer and writing a review of novel low-profile automotive antennas.
He has acted as external examiner for higher degrees by research at the Universities of Reading, Sheffield, Warwick, Hull and Leicester.
Professional Affiliations
- Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
- Senior Member of the Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Dr Flint is Head of the Communications Research Division
Past PhD students supervised:
- Khaled Mahmoud (Signal processing, watermarking)
- Emmanuel Touloupis (Safety critical microprocessors)
- Gordon Leonard (Bioacoustic transducer design)
- Konstantin Gorokhovskiy (Demosaicing for digital imaging devices)
- Maninder Pal (Leak detection)
- Simon Dible (Acoustic band gap and bioacoustics)
- Noor Samsuri (EM field absorption by humans wearing jewellery)
- Charity Mulenga (Novel biconical antennas employing metamaterials)
Undergraduate
Part A
ELA003 Electronics A (Responsible examiner)
Part B
ELB002 Communications
ELB010 Electronics B
Projects
Typically Dr Flint supervises three BEng Final Year Projects and three MEng Final Year Projects. He has supervised several Part C systems projects in the past in the area of Sports Technology.
Postgraduate
Typically between 2 and 4 taught projects
View all Dr Flint’s publications in the central publications database
Selected Publications
S.A. Dible, J.A. Flint and P A Lepper, On the role of periodic structures in the lower jaw of the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), IoP Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, Vol. 4, 2009, pp. 1-9.
E. Touloupis, J. A. Flint, V. A. Chouliaras, D. D. Ward, Study of the Effects of SEU-Induced Faults on a Pipeline Protected Microprocessor. IEEE Trans. Computers, Vol. 56, No. 12, 2007, pp. 1585-1596.
J.A. Flint, A Biomimetic Antenna in the Shape of a Bat’s Ear, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, Vol. 5, No. 1, Dec. 2006, pp. 145 – 147.
