Education Ph.D (Satellite remote sensing); B.Sc (Computer science)

Skills Commercial software engineering (14 years); leading technical teams; customer-facing responsibilities; site commissioning; operating under tight deadlines

Recent fields Satellite ground station development; satellite command and control; remote sensing; GIS; expert systems

Primary languages (with years) C (19); Python (6), C++, HTML (2); G2 (7); shell scripts (20); SQL (10); IDL, AML (3); Pascal, FORTRAN (2); Avenue, S, LISP, PROLOG, COBOL, Java (1)

Primary applications G2 (with G2-Gateway, GFR, GMS, GXL, GUIDE/UIL), RT-STPS, IMAPP, PV-WAVE; ENVI; Imagine; PCI; Arc/INFO; ArcView; Sybase; System-500

Platforms Linux, UNIX, Windows

March 2002 - present
Senior software engineer, Environmental Systems and Services, Melbourne, Australia

ES&S design and develop L-band and X-band ground stations for meteorological and environmental satellites. The position is responsible for all software components and their hardware deployment – together, these components control the antenna; ingest raw data; process the data to standard formats; produce atmospheric, oceanographic, and other higher-level image products; and provide the end-user with a suite of advanced display and analysis tools.

General responsibilities:

• . Manage a team of software engineers through the full development life-cycle;
• . Design and develop major ground station software components;
• . Install, commission and gain site-acceptance for ground stations in SE Asia/Pacific-Rim;
• . Manage remote and on-site technical support for over 40 groundstations;
• . Liaise with third-party software and computer hardware vendors;
• . Author system manuals, factory-acceptance, site-acceptance, and test documentation.

Achievements to date:

• . Instrumental in the transition of ES&S from a hardware provider into a leading supplier of complete turn-key systems;
• . Successful commissioning and site acceptance of all contracted systems;
• . Development of varied ground station products: for Terra/Aqua MODIS, NOAA/FY1 C/HRPT, MTSAT L/HRIT, GMS/FY2/MTSAT SVISSR, GOES GVAR;
• . Development of in-house system test procedures and establishment of rigorous version tracking and software management methodologies.

August 2000 - August 2001
Proprietor, Redleaf Systems, Edinburgh, Scotland

Redleaf Systems provides software engineering services to clients developing intelligent control systems, including bridges to third-party products. Client list:

Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland. Contract involved the design and development of an OO control system for monitoring changes in Scotland s land cover, using satellite imagery and varied spatial datasets as primary inputs. The G2-based system was bridged to the Arc/INFO, ArcView and PV-WAVE GIS and image processing packages to enable automated reasoning.

Rescom Technology, Aberdeen, Scotland. Rescom provides consultancy services to the oil industry, and specialises in process optimisation. Contract involved a high-level design and costing for an automated event-detection and scheduling system, based on the G2 control environment and involved C/C++ bridges to SCADA, e-Business, and other third-party components.

General responsibilities:

• . Undertake all necessary stages of the software development life-cycle;
• . Present details of developments on corporate web pages, and in scientific forums;
• . Support system users;
• . Manage and advertise the Redleaf business.

Achievements:

• . All deliveries completed on-schedule, and accepted by clients;
• . Software toolkits continue to be used and have attracted further funding and development.

September 1997 - May 2000
Software engineer, L3-Storm Control Systems, Herndon VA and Sydney, Australia

L3-Storm Control Systems develop real-time expert systems for tracking, commanding, and controlling Earth-orbiting spacecraft. The central components are formed from a variety of third-party and custom packages, connected through C/C++ bridges running on UNIX platforms. The environment is managed by G2.

General responsibilities:

• . Participate in all software development stages of Australian projects;
• . Provide engineering and technical support for international projects;
• . Provide on-site system-test design and support for Australian customers;
• . Support business development in the satellite image processing industry.

Achievements:

• . Successful design, development and delivery of command buffering applications for two communications satellites: Galaxy XI (Panamsat, US); and Artemis (Alenia Aerospazio, Italy);
• . Established a business partnership with the Macaulay Land Us Research Institute, Scotland, to commercialise a research project concerning automated satellite image processing;
• . Lead engineer in the commercialisation of this research. On-schedule completion of the product, and of a demonstration system being used to support marketing efforts.

September 1996 - August 1997
Software engineer, Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Aberdeen, Scotland

The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute conducts multi-disciplinary research into land use. Working within the Land Use Group, the position was responsible for the further design and development of a C bridge between the Smallworld GIS and a decision support system running on UNIX platforms. Additional work concerned the design and development of a graphical user interface for the system, and of software version tracking and management methodologies.

July 1991 - September 1993
Software engineer, CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences, Sydney, Australia

CSIRO conducts diverse research for Australia s scientific and industrial communities. Initial role concerned the design and development of C-based routines for their in-house image analysis package, and of a graphical user interface for an object-orientated geostatistical processing system, running on UNIX platforms. Further responsibilities involved providing technical support for Australian users of S-PLUS, a statistics package distributed by CSIRO in Australia.

Education and Academic Awards

Degree Ph.D (Remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and GIS), 1993-1997

Computing Science Dept, Aberdeen University, Scotland;

Degree B.Sc Honours (Computer Science), 1987-1991

Computer Science Dept, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland

Best Ph.D The UK Remote Sensing Society, 1998

Best Remote Sensing Paper The Len Curtis European Award, 2003

UK Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society