Dieter Frans S. Vanderelst
Assoc Professor
Biology-Mechanical Engineering-Electrical Engineering (jointly appointed)
Rieveschl Hall
820G
A&S Biological Sciences -
Professional Summary
SBBE, Sensory ecology, models of bat echolocation and flight control, robotic and computational models of animal behaviour and perception. Models of human cognition.
Education
MSc: Ugent Belgium, (Theoretical Psychology)
MSc: KUL Belgium, (Artificial Intelligence)
Ph.D.: UA Belgium, 2012 (Biology)
Research and Practice Interests
The echolocation system of bats is limited in a number of important ways. It has a low update rate, a small "field of view" and a limited temporal resolution. Nevertheless, echolocating bats are able to fly swiftly through vegetation, navigate changing environments, recognise objects and forage on the wing. In spite of intense efforts over the past 50 years, the sensorimotor algorithms underlying bat sonar remain only partly understood. I want to understand how, in spite of the limitations of their sensory system, bats are able to deal with the challenges that result from living in complex and changing environments. In other words, I want to know how bats deal with the limitations of their sonar system.
In my research, I use both simulation methods, artificial sonar systems and robots to research the sensorimotor loops underlying bat biosonar. In addition, I believe that by studying bat sonar the performance gap between artificial and biological sonar can be substantially reduced.
Besides bats and echolocation, my interests include bio-inspired artificial intelligence and models of cognitive functions both in humans and in animals.
Publication list on Research gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dieter_Vanderelst
Selected publications:
Vanderelst, D., Steckel, J., Boen, A., Peremans, H. and Holderied, M. W. Place recognition using batlike sonar eLife, eLife Sciences Publications Limited, 2016, Vol. 5, pp. e14188
Vanderelst, D., Holderied, M. W. and Peremans, H. Sensorimotor Model of Obstacle Avoidance in Echolocating Bats PLoS Comput Biol, Public Library of Science, 2015, Vol. 11(10), pp. e1004484
Bartenstein, S. K., Gerstenberg, N., Vanderelst, D., Peremans, H. and Firzlaff, U. Echo-acoustic flow dynamically modifies the cortical map of target range in bats Nature communications, Nature Publishing Group, 2014, Vol. 5
Vanderelst, D., Lee, Y.-F., Geipel, I., Kalko, E. K., Kuo, Y.-M. and Peremans, H. The noseleaf of Rhinolophus formosae focuses the Frequency Modulated (FM) component of the calls
How nature shaped echolocation in animals, Frontiers E-books, 2014, pp. 55
Vanderelst, D., Reijniers, J., Firzlaff, U. and Peremans, H. Dominant glint based prey localization in horseshoe bats: a possible strategy for noise rejection PLoS Comput Biol, Public Library of Science, 2011, Vol. 7(12), pp. e1002268
Reijniers, J., Vanderelst, D. and Peremans, H. Morphology-induced information transfer in bat sonar Physical review letters, APS, 2010, Vol. 105(14), pp. 148701
Vanderelst, D., De Mey, F., Peremans, H., Geipel, I., Kalko, E. and Firzlaff, U. What noseleaves do for FM bats depends on their degree of sensorial specialization PloS one, Public Library of Science, 2010, Vol. 5(8), pp. e11893
Research Support
Grant: #DRL-1759150 Investigators:Layne, John; Maynard, Kathie; Peteet, Bridgette; Rollmann, Stephanie; Vanderelst, Dieter 08-01-2018 -07-31-2021 National Science Foundation Strategies: Trans-disciplinary Education in Biology and Engineering Technology Role:Collaborator $1,198,120.00 Active Level:Federal
Grant: #FS-18-048 Investigators:Cohen, Kelly; Kumar, Manish; Vanderelst, Dieter 04-18-2018 -12-31-2018 Department of Homeland Security SCITI UAV Innovator Subcontract SUAVE Role:Collaborator $50,000.00 Active Level:Federal
Grant: #IOS-2034885 Investigators:Vanderelst, Dieter 09-01-2021 -08-31-2024 National Science Foundation Principles of intelligent sensorimotor behavior under informational constraints - AWARDED 5/5/21 2034885 Role:PI 600407.00 Awarded Level:Federal
Grant: #DRL-2342578 Investigators:DeJarnette, Anna; Layne, John; Rollmann, Stephanie; Vanderelst, Dieter 08-01-2024 -07-31-2029 National Science Foundation ITEST SEI: Biology Meets Engineering, Expanding Trans-disciplinary STEM Education Role:Collaborator 1496642.00 Awarded Level:Federal
Investigators:Vanderelst, Dieter 03-01-2024 -12-31-2024 Procter & Gamble Digital Accelerator at UC P&G Digital Accelerator @ UC:Vanderelst Role:PI 193092.00 Hold Level:Industry
Publications
Peer Reviewed Publications
Vanderelst, Dieter; Steckel, Jan; Boen, Andre; Peremans, Herbert; Holderied, Marc W (2016. ) Place recognition using batlike sonar.eLife, , 5 , More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter (2016. ) Correction: Social Network Analysis As a Tool for Research Policy.PLoS neglected tropical diseases, , 10 (1 ) ,e0004410 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter (2015. ) Social Network Analysis As a Tool for Research Policy.PLoS neglected tropical diseases, , 9 (12 ) ,e0004266 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Holderied, Marc W; Peremans, Herbert (2015. ) Sensorimotor Model of Obstacle Avoidance in Echolocating Bats.PLoS computational biology, , 11 (10 ) ,e1004484 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Peremans, Herbert; Razak, Norizham Abdul; Verstraelen, Edouard; Dimitriadis, Grigorios (2015. ) Correction: The aerodynamic cost of head morphology in bats: maybe not as bad as it seems.PloS one, , 10 (5 ) ,e0126061 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Peremans, Herbert; Razak, Norizham Abdul; Verstraelen, Edouard; Dimitriadis, Grigorios; Dimitriadis, Greg (2015. ) The aerodynamic cost of head morphology in bats: maybe not as bad as it seems.PloS one, , 10 (3 ) ,e0118545 More Information
Schnyder, Hans A; Vanderelst, Dieter; Bartenstein, Sophia; Firzlaff, Uwe; Luksch, Harald (2014. ) The avian head induces cues for sound localization in elevation.PloS one, , 9 (11 ) ,e112178 More Information
Bartenstein, Sophia K; Gerstenberg, Nadine; Vanderelst, Dieter; Peremans, Herbert; Firzlaff, Uwe (2014. ) Echo-acoustic flow dynamically modifies the cortical map of target range in bats.Nature communications, , 5 ,4668 More Information
Reijniers, J; Vanderelst, D; Jin, C; Carlile, S; Peremans, H (2014. ) An ideal-observer model of human sound localization.Biological cybernetics, , 108 (2 ) ,169-81 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Speybroeck, Niko (2014. ) Loading, merging and analysing demographic and health surveys using R.International journal of public health, , 59 (2 ) ,415-22 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Reijniers, Jonas; Peremans, Herbert (2014. ) Comment on "Ear deformations give bats a physical mechanism for fast adaptation of ultrasonic beam patterns".Physical review letters, , 112 (7 ) ,079401 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Speybroeck, Niko (2013. ) An adjusted bed net coverage indicator with estimations for 23 African countries.Malaria journal, , 12 ,457 More Information
Peremans, Herbert; Vanderelst, Dieter (2013. ) Augmented topological maps for three-dimensional navigation.The Behavioral and brain sciences, , 36 (5 ) ,560-1; discussion 57 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Lee, Ya-Fu; Geipel, Inga; Kalko, Elisabeth K V; Kuo, Yen-Min; Peremans, Herbert (2013. ) The noseleaf of Rhinolophus formosae focuses the Frequency Modulated (FM) component of the calls.Frontiers in physiology, , 4 ,191 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Jonas, Reijniers; Herbert, Peremans (2012. ) The furrows of Rhinolophidae revisited.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, , 9 (70 ) ,1100-3 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Reijniers, Jonas; Firzlaff, Uwe; Peremans, Herbert (2011. ) Dominant glint based prey localization in horseshoe bats: a possible strategy for noise rejection.PLoS computational biology, , 7 (12 ) ,e1002268 More Information
Guarato, Francesco; Jakobsen, Lasse; Vanderelst, Dieter; Surlykke, Annemarie; Hallam, John (2011. ) A method for estimating the orientation of a directional sound source from source directivity and multi-microphone recordings: principles and application.The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, , 129 (2 ) ,1046-58 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Reijniers, Jonas; Steckel, Jan; Peremans, Herbert (2011. ) Information generated by the moving pinnae of Rhinolophus rouxi: tuning of the morphology at different harmonics.PloS one, , 6 (6 ) ,e20627 More Information
Reijniers, Jonas; Vanderelst, Dieter; Peremans, Herbert (2010. ) Morphology-induced information transfer in bat sonar.Physical review letters, , 105 (14 ) ,148701 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; De Mey, Fons; Peremans, Herbert; Geipel, Inga; Kalko, Elisabeth; Firzlaff, Uwe (2010. ) What noseleaves do for FM bats depends on their degree of sensorial specialization.PloS one, , 5 (8 ) ,e11893 More Information
De Mey, F; Schillebeeckx, F; Vanderelst, D; Boen, A; Peremans, H (2010. ) Modelling simultaneous echo waveform reconstruction and localization in bats.Bio Systems, , 100 (2 ) ,94-100 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Speybroeck, Niko (2010. ) Quantifying the lack of scientific interest in neglected tropical diseases.PLoS neglected tropical diseases, , 4 (1 ) ,e576 More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Ahn, René M C; Barakova, Emilia I (2009. ) Simulated trust: a cheap social learning strategy.Theoretical population biology, , 76 (3 ) ,189-96 More Information
Brysbaert, Marc; Speybroeck, Sara; Vanderelst, Dieter (2009. ) Is there room for the BBC in the mental lexicon? On the recognition of acronyms.Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006), , 62 (9 ) ,1832-42 More Information
Duyck, Wouter; Vanderelst, Dieter; Desmet, Timothy; Hartsuiker, Robert J (2008. ) The frequency effect in second-language visual word recognition. Psychonomic bulletin & review, , 15 (4 ) ,850-5
Chitradurga Achutha, Adarsh; Peremans, Herbert; Firzlaff, Uwe; Vanderelst, Dieter (2021. ) Efficient encoding of spectrotemporal information for bat echolocation.PLoS computational biology, , 17 (6 ) ,e1009052 More Information
Bou Mansour, Carl; Koreman, Elijah; Steckel, Jan; Peremans, Herbert; Vanderelst, Dieter (2019. ) Avoidance of non-localizable obstacles in echolocating bats: A robotic model.PLoS computational biology, , 15 (12 ) ,e1007550 More Information
Geipel, Inga; Steckel, Jan; Tschapka, Marco; Vanderelst, Dieter; Schnitzler, Hans-Ulrich; Kalko, Elisabeth K V; Peremans, Herbert; Simon, Ralph (2019. ) Bats Actively Use Leaves as Specular Reflectors to Detect Acoustically Camouflaged Prey.Current biology : CB, , 29 (16 ) ,2731-2736.e3 More Information
Kugler, Kathrin; Luksch, Harald; Peremans, Herbert; Vanderelst, Dieter; Wiegrebe, Lutz; Firzlaff, Uwe (2019. ) Optic and echo-acoustic flow interact in bats.The Journal of experimental biology, , 222 (Pt 6 ) , More Information
Vanderelst, Dieter; Peremans, Herbert (2018. ) Modeling bat prey capture in echolocating bats: The feasibility of reactive pursuit.Journal of theoretical biology, , 456 ,305-314 More Information
Bakas, Tamilyn; Sampsel, Debi; Israel, Jahmeel; Chamnikar, Ameya; Ellard, Angela; Clark, John Greer; Ulrich, Megan Gresham; Vanderelst, Dieter (2018. ) Satisfaction and Technology Evaluation of a Telehealth Robotic Program to Optimize Healthy Independent Living for Older Adults.Journal of nursing scholarship : an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, , 50 (6 ) ,666-675 More Information
Bakas, Tamilyn; Sampsel, Debi; Israel, Jahmeel; Chamnikar, Ameya; Bodnarik, Barbara; Clark, John Greer; Ulrich, Megan Gresham; Vanderelst, Dieter (2018. ) Using telehealth to optimize healthy independent living for older adults: A feasibility study.Geriatric nursing (New York, N.Y.), , 39 (5 ) ,566-573 More Information
Mfueni, Elvire; Devleesschauwer, Brecht; Rosas-Aguirre, Angel; Van Malderen, Carine; Brandt, Patrick T; Ogutu, Bernhards; Snow, Robert W; Tshilolo, Léon; Zurovac, Dejan; Vanderelst, Dieter; Speybroeck, Niko (2018. ) True malaria prevalence in children under five: Bayesian estimation using data of malaria household surveys from three sub-Saharan countries.Malaria journal, , 17 (1 ) ,65 More Information
Alabi, Adedapo; Vanderelst, Dieter; Minai, Ali A (2023. ) Rapid learning of spatial representations for goal-directed navigation based on a novel model of hippocampal place fields.Neural networks : the official journal of the International Neural Network Society, , 161 ,116-128 More Information
Alabi, Adedapo; Vanderelst, Dieter; Minai, Ali A (2023. ) Rapid learning of spatial representations for goal-directed navigation based on a novel model of hippocampal place fields.Neural networks : the official journal of the International Neural Network Society, , 161 ,116-128 More Information
Keywords
echolocation, sonar, bio-inspired robotics, robotics, cognition, sensory ecology, hearing
Courses Taught
-PSTP-7077C CE 201 PROGRAMMING FOR BEHAVIORIAL SCIENTISTS Level:Undergraduate
DATA ANALYSIS Level:Graduate
SENSING IN ANIMALS AND ROBOTS Level:Undergraduate
BIO-INSPIRED ROBOTICS Level:Graduate
BIO-INSPIRED ROBOTICS Level:Graduate
Contact Information
820G Rieveschl Hall