Staff profile

Alternative email address

alanpurvis@btinternet.com

I have a background in Signal Processing for Engineering. My early training at the Cavendish Laboratory was in Radio Astronomy, Aperture Synthesis and Interferometry. The search to link radio objects to optical galaxies led me to be part of the first teams buidling CCD cameras and the image processing technologies then enabled. Interests which followed include the correction of atmospheric seeing using liquid crystal phase modulating devices, the synthesis of optical elements and the use of fast processor technologies to perform high speed real time calculations. This work has involved considerable interaction with Industry. Working with the RDA One North East significant Technology Transfer Projects were initiated called ReCET, NeMEC and CENS deploying European funds to assist SMEs take advantage of University Research and generate more economic impact. These projects evolved into a National Faraday Centre and engaged high profile businesses as partners through follow on EPSRC awards such as Agilent, Sharp and Intel. With this substantial corporate experience now shared with the KTNs opportunities to exploit core EPSRC funded research in the manufacturing sector where there is considerable interest in novel techniques to enable electronic products to repair (heal) themselves. we are very excited at the prospect of extending this know how on self -fix strategies to encompass electro-mechanical goods with current Industrial sponsors. 

• digital signal processing
• optics and image processing

• 2000: Professor in Engineering (Electronic Systems) having held many 4x 6 month sabbatical posts at leading International Universities, Stanford, Technion, Cambridge, EPFL.: Fulbright Senior Scholar, Leland Stanford Junior University, CA.Royal Society Visiting Professor, Technion.Visiting Professor at the Ecole Polytechnic Federal Lausanne.Founding Research Director of the EPPIC Faraday (now KTN) partnership for Electronics and Photonics.Director of 3 University Spin out companies.

Chapter in book

• McWilliam, R., Schiefer, P., & Purvis, A. (2015). Building Dependable Electronic Systems for Autonomous Maintenance. In L. Redding, & R. Roy (Eds.), Through-life Engineering Services (375-394). Springer International Publishing
• Jones, D. H., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2011). Design of Self-Assembling, Self-Repairing 3D Irregular Cellular Automata. In A. Salcido (Ed.), Cellular Automata - Innovative Modelling for Science and Engineering (373-394). InTech
• Jones, D., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2010). Design of a self-assembling, repairing and reconfiguring Arithmetic Logic Unit. In A. Lazinica (Ed.), New Advanced Technologies (161-176). Intech Education and Publishing

Conference Paper

• Wooder, D., Purvis, A., & McWilliam, R. (2017). Using big-data and surface fitting to improve aircraft safety through the study of relationships and anomalies. . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2016.10.126
• McWilliam, R., Schiefer, P., Purvis, A., Silvano, C., Stechele, W., & Wong, S. (2016). A Combined Fault Detection and Discrimination Strategy for Resource-Sensitive Platforms.
• McWilliam, R., Khan, S., Purvis, A., Al-Dabass, D., Orsoni, A., Cant, R., & Jenkins, G. (2016). Modelling the Positional and Orientation Sensitivity of Proximity Sensors. In 2016 UKSim-AMSS 18th International Conference on Computer Modelling and Simulation (UKSim): Cambridge, United Kingdom, 6 - 8 April 2016 ; Proceedings (355-360). https://doi.org/10.1109/uksim.2016.11
• Purvis, A., Toriz-Garcia, H., Cowling, J., Williams, G., Seed, N., McWilliam, R., …Ivey, P. (2014). Holographic Lithography. In Digital holography and three-dimensional imaging part of Imaging and applied optics 2014 ; 13-17 July 2014, Seattle, Washington, United States. https://doi.org/10.1364/dh.2014.dw1b.1
• McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2013). Strategies for self-repairing electronic systems.
• McWilliam, R., Frei, R., Schiefer, P., Purvis, A., Tiwari, A., & Zhu, M. (2012). Self-repair technologies for maintenance-free mechanical and electronic components and subsystems.
• McWilliam, R. (2012). Self-repairing electronic systems.
• McWilliam, R., Purvis, A., Jones, D., Schiefer, P., Frei, R., Tiwari, A., & Zhu, M. (2012). Self-repairing Electronic Logic Units Based on Convergent Cellular Automata.
• McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2011). Orientation and Field Dampening: Key Physical Factors for Harsh-Environment Passive RFID.
• Soulard, F., McWilliam, R., Williams, G., Toriz-Garcia, J., Purvis, A., & Seed, N. (2011). Fabricating non-planar antenna structures by a novel 3-D holographic photolithography method.
• Soulard, F., McWilliam, R., Cowling, J., Purvis, A., Williams, G., Seed, N., …Ivey, P. (2011). Holographic recording of vertical surfaces. . https://doi.org/10.1364/dh.2011.dwc9
• Zhou, X., Vitanov, V., & Purvis, A. (2010). Point Cloud Techniques in Reverse Engineering. In Advances in manufacturing technology - XXIV: proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Manufacturing Research (ICMR2010), 14th-16th September 2010 (90-96)
• Becci, G., Vitanov, V., & Purvis, A. (2010). Control Design for Reliable Operation of a Hybrid Pipeline Robot. In Advances in manufacturing technology - XXIV: proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Manufacturing Research (ICMR2010), 14th-16th September 2010 (23-30)
• Thurman, A., Purvis, A., & Vitanov, V. (2010). Search and Rescue as a Weighted Cleaning Problem, using Diffusion. In Advances in manufacturing technology - XXIV: proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Manufacturing Research (ICMR2010), 14th-16th September 2010 (291-296)
• Laskin, A., Williams, G., & McWilliam, R. (2010). Applying refractive beam shapers to improve other beam shaping techniques. . https://doi.org/10.1117/12.858646
• Williams, G., Toriz-Garcia, J., McWilliam, R., Seed, L., Purvis, A., Ivey, P., & De Micheli, G. (2010). Holographic Photolithography for 3D Integration. In Proceedings, Design, Automation, & Test in Europe : Dresden, Germany, March 8-12, 2010 /
• McWilliam, R., Purvis, A., Williams, G. L., Toritz-Garcia, J., Seed, L. N., & Ivey, P. A. (2009). High fidelity microlithography patterning using computer generated holograms. In Digital Holography and Three-Dimensional Imaging 2009: Vancouver Canada, 26–30 April 2009. Advances in Imaging, OSA Technical Digest (CD). https://doi.org/10.1364/dh.2009.dwb28
• Paterson, C., Curry, R., & Purvis, A. (2009). Action Potential Detection Algorithms for Implantable Electronics.
• Curry, R., Pera, I., Kataky, R., & Cameran, N. (2009). The Sodium Camera: A Direct Spatiotemporal Imaging Device for Ionic Transfer in Biological Systems.
• Jones, D., Purvis, A., & McWilliam, R. (2009). Model and Application of the Community Effect.
• Jones, D., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2009). Mimicking Morphogenesis for Robust Behaviour of Cellular Architectures.
• Paterson, C., Curry, R., Purvis, A., & Johnson, S. (2008). Detection of Action Potentials in the presence of noise using phase-space techniques.
• Jones, D., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2008). Mimicking morphogenesis for robust behaviour of cellular architectures. In Proceedings of World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Conference on Biosciences and Bioengineering 2008, 29-31 October 2008, Venice, Italy (59-61)
• Paterson, C., Curry, R., Purvis, A., & Johnson, S. (2008). On Action Potential detection algorithms.
• McWilliam, R., Purvis, A., Richard, C., Williams, G., Seed, L., Ivey, P., & Toriz-Garcia, J. (2008). 3D maskless holographic photolithography using spatial light modulators.
• Williams, G. L., McWilliam, R., Toriz-Garcia, J., Curry, R., Maiden, A., Seed, L. N., …Ivey, P. A. (2008). A photolithographic process for grossly non-planar substrates. In F. M. Schellenberg (Ed.),
• Pera, I., Curry, R., Paterson, C., Cameron, N., Purvis, A., & Kataky, R. (2008). signaling.
• Devlin, I., & Purvis, A. (2007). Assessing the Security of Key Length.
• McWilliam, R., Purvis, A., Johnson, S., Maiden, A., Williams, G., Seed, L., & Ivey, P. (2006). Non-Planar Photolithography Using Digital Holograms.
• Ivey, P., McWilliam, R., Maiden, A., Williams, G., Purvis, A., & Seed, N. (2006). Photolithography on Three Dimensional Substrates. In 56th Electronic Components and Technology Conference, 30 May-2 June 2006, San Diego, California ; proceedings (283-288). https://doi.org/10.1109/ectc.2006.1645660
• Devlin, I., & Purvis, A. (2006). A Fundamental Evaluation of 80 bit Keys Employed by Hardware Oriented Stream Ciphers.
• Williams, G., McWilliam, R., Maiden, A., Purvis, A., Ivey, P., & Seed, N. (2005). Photolithography on grossly non-planar substrates. . https://doi.org/10.1109/hdp.2005.251443
• Robinson, C., & Purvis, A. (2003). Demodulation of Bluetooth GFSK Signals under Carrier Frequency Error Conditions.
• Robinson, C., & Purvis, A. (2003). Characterisation of Bluetooth Carrier Frequency Errors.
• Maiden, A., Purvis, A., & Kinghorn, M. (2003). The Development of a Digital Switched Mode Power Supply Controller and Controller Design Tool.
• Robinson, C., & Purvis, A. (2002). A VXIBus Based Bluetooth Radio Test Set For IC Validation and Debug.
• McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2002). Mains Appliance Identification for Electrical Safety Test System.

Journal Article

• Punzo, G., Tewari, A., Butans, E., Vasile, M., Purvis, A., Mayfield, M., & Varga, L. (2020). Engineering Resilient Complex Systems: The Necessary Shift Toward Complexity Science. IEEE Systems Journal, 14(3), 3865-3874. https://doi.org/10.1109/jsyst.2019.2958829
• Naghshbandi, S. N., Varga, L., Purvis, A., Mcwilliam, R., Minisci, E., Vasile, M., …Jones, D. H. (2020). A review of methods to study resilience of complex engineering and engineered systems. IEEE Access, 8(1), 87775-87799. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2020.2992239
• McWilliam, R., Schiefer, P., & Purvis, A. (2017). Creating self-configuring logic with built-in resilience to multiple-upset events. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, 231(13), 2279-2290. https://doi.org/10.1177/0954405415611607
• McWilliam, R., Purvis, A., & Khan, S. (2016). Modelling the Positional and Orientation Sensitivity of Inductively Coupled Sensors for Industrial IoT Applications. International journal of simulation: systems, science & technology, 17(35), Article 23.1
• McWilliam, R., Williams, G., Cowling, J., Seed, L., & Purvis, A. (2016). High contrast pattern reconstructions using a phase-seeded point CGH method. Applied Optics, 55(7), 1701-1710. https://doi.org/10.1364/ao.55.001701
• Purvis, A., Morris, B., & McWilliam, R. (2015). FlightGear as a Tool for Real Time Fault-injection, Detection and Self-repair. Procedia CIRP, 38, 283-288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2015.08.040
• McWilliam, R., Schiefer, P., & Purvis, A. (2015). Experimental validation of a resilient electronic logic design with autonomous fault discrimination/masking. Procedia CIRP, 38, 265-270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2015.08.027
• Carney, T., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2015). Modelling Electronic Circuit Failures using a Xilinx FPGA System. Procedia CIRP, 38, 277-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2015.08.039
• Schiefer, P., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2014). Fault Tolerant Quadded Logic Cell Structure with Built-in Adaptive Time Redundancy. Procedia CIRP, 22, 127-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2014.07.115
• Schiefer, P., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2014). Self-healing Fuel Pump Controller Mapped into Memory Based Finite State Machine. Procedia CIRP, 22, 132-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2014.07.151
• Cavalcante, T. C., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2014). The Design of Reliable Circuits Using Logic Redundancy. Procedia CIRP, 22, 138-141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2014.07.017
• Frei, R., Mcwilliam, R., Derrick, B., Purvis, A., Tiwari, A., & Di Marzo Serugendo, G. (2013). Self-healing and self-repairing technologies. International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 69(5-8), 1033-1061. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-013-5070-2
• McWilliam, R., Schiefer, P., & Purvis, A. (2013). Demonstration of a Self-recovering ALU Using a Convergent Cellular Automata. Procedia CIRP, 11, 373-378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2013.07.026
• Schiefer, P., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2013). Creating a Self-configuring Finite State Machine out of Memory Look-up Tables. Procedia CIRP, 11, 363-366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2013.07.030
• Bell, C., McWilliam, R., Purvis, A., & Tiwari, A. (2013). Concepts of self-repairing systems. Measurement and Control, 46(6), 176-179. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020294013492285
• Toriz-Garcia, J., Cowling, J., Williams, G., Bai, Q., Seed, N., Tennant, A., …Ivey, P. (2013). Fabrication of a 3D electrically small antenna using holographic photolithography. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 23(5), Article 055010. https://doi.org/10.1088/0960-1317/23/5/055010
• Toriz-Garcia, J., Williams, G., McWilliam, R., Seed, N., Purvis, A., Soulard, F., …Ivey, P. (2011). Vertical tracks on the sidewall of a silicon die using 3D holographic photolithography. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 21(8), Article 085034. https://doi.org/10.1088/0960-1317/21/8/085034
• Cowling, J., Williams, G., Purvis, A., McWilliam, R., Toriz-Garcia, J., Seed, N., …Ivey, P. (2011). Three-dimensional holographic lithography by an iterative algorithm. Optics Letters, 36(13), 2495-2497. https://doi.org/10.1364/ol.36.002495
• Jones, D., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2011). Convergence and feedback: a framework for cellular automata design. Journal of Cellular Automata, 6(4-5), 399-416
• Toriz-Garcia, J. J., Williams, G. L., McWilliam, R., Curry, R., Seed, N., Purvis, A., & Ivey, P. A. (2010). Controlled-width track in through silicon via using 3D holographic photolithography with modified electrodepositable photoresist. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 20(1), Article 015012. https://doi.org/10.1088/0960-1317/20/1/015012
• Jones, D., McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2008). Designing convergent cellular automata. BioSystems, 96(1), 80-85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2008.12.001
• Purvis, A., McWilliam, R., Johnson, S., Seed, N., Williams, G., Maiden, A., & Ivey, P. (2007). Photolithographic Patterning of Bi-Helical Tracks onto Conical Substrates. Journal of Micro/Nanopatterning, Materials, and Metrology, 6(4), https://doi.org/10.1117/1.2824377
• McWilliam, R., & Purvis, A. (2006). Potential Uses of Embedded RFID in Appliance Identification. International appliance manufacturing, 10, 100-107
• Maiden, A., McWilliam, R., Purvis, A., Johnson, S., Williams, G., Seed, N., & Ivey, P. (2005). Nonplanar photolithography with computer-generated holograms. Optics Letters, 30(11), 1300-1302. https://doi.org/10.1364/ol.30.001300
• Williams, G., Seed, N., Purvis, A., Maiden, A., McWilliam, R., Ivey, P., & Johnson, S. (2005). Non-Planar Interconnect. Circuit World, 31(2), 10-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/03056120510571798
• Purvis, A., Birch, P., Gourlay, J., & Love, G. (1998). Real-time optical aberration correction with a ferroelectric liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. Macromolecular Symposia, 37(11), 2164-2169
• Phillips, D., Purvis, A., & Johnson, S. (1997). On an efficient VLSI architecture for the multirate additive synthesis of musical tones
• Purvis, A., & Lo, K. (1997). A new approach for estimating spectra from randomly sampled sequences
• Purvis, A., Gourlay, J., Love, G., & Birch, P. (1997). A real-time close loop liquid crystal adaptive optics system: first results. Optics Communications, 137, 17-21. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0030-4018%2896%2900756-0

Patent

• Curry, R., Pera, I., Purvis, A., Kataky, R., & Cameron, N. Apparatus for Determining Concentration of Chemical Species at Multiple Positions in Test Region
• Cowling, J., Purvis, A., McWilliam, R., Soulard, F., Williams, G., Seed, N., & Toriz-Garcia, J. (2011). Improvements In Or Relating To Holography
• Purvis, A., McWilliam, R., Maiden, A., Johnson, S., Ivey, P., Williams, G., & Seed, N. L. (2009). Holographic lithography using geometrical shapes
• Jones, D., Purvis, A., & McWilliam, R. (2009). Self-repairing Electronic Data System
• Purvis, A., McWilliam, R., Curry, R., Andrew, M., Williams, G., Seed, L., …Ivey, P. (2009). Sub-Micron 3d Holographic Lithography
• Purvis, A., McWilliam, R., Seed, N., Williams, G., Ivey, P., Maiden, A., & Johnson, S. (2006). Holographic Lithography. WO2006021818