Developers

Robert Smith

Robert Smith is Technology Chief of Non-destructive Evaluation at QinetiQ Ltd. He gained an MA degree in Physics from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Applied Acoustics from Kings College, London. During six years at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) he was involved in establishing a National Measurement System for medical ultrasound field characterisation and contributed to the preparation of international standards. In 1989 he moved to the Royal Aerospace Establishment, Farnborough, later the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) and then QinetiQ Ltd. Whilst there he developed the ANDSCAN^® portable scanning system and arranged for its commercial exploitation, receiving the DERA Technology Transfer Prize in 1997. Robert Smith has authored over 65 publications and was awarded the John Grimwade Medal for 1995 and 2001, and the Roy Sharpe Prize for 1996 by the British Institute of Non-destructive Testing, of which he is a Fellow and a member of the Technical Committee and Publications Working Group. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, a Chartered Physicist and a Chartered Engineer. As a QinetiQ Fellow, his current areas of interest include: ultrasonic spectroscopy, NDE of corrosion for ageing aircraft, ultrasonic inspection of structural composites, transient eddy-currents, in-service scanning, and NDE instrumentation.

Lyn Jones

Lyn Jones joined the NDE Group in the Structural Materials Centre of DERA Farnborough (now QinetiQ Ltd), in 1987 where he is a Scientist, specialising in ultrasonics and eddy currents. Prior to this he spent 3 years at Marconi Underwater Systems concentrating on ultrasonic transducer development. Lyn was heavily involved in the design and development of the prototype ANDSCAN^â portable scanning arm at Farnborough, before it was commercially exploited, and has continued to be involved in its development and testing. He is currently responsible for the management of the ultrasonics laboratory at Farnborough and is a vital part of the NDE Systems Development Team in the NDE Group.

Jamie Bending

Jamie Bending graduated from the University of Kent with a BSc degree in 1992 and from University College, London with an MSc in Physics in 1994. After 3 years in the Magnetics Group, he joined the NDE Group in the Structural Materials Centre of DERA Farnborough (now QinetiQ Ltd) in 1998, where he is a Scientist specialising in NDT systems development. Jamie is responsible for developing much of the recent software for ANDSCAN^â2000, including multi-element array transducer capabilities and optical encoder positioning. He also has considerable experience in computer and instrumentation troubleshooting. Jamie is now a vital part of the NDE Systems Development Team in the NDE Group.

Tim Jarman

Following early fame as a finalist in the Young Electronic Designer of the Year 1991, Tim continued to develop his interest in electronic systems. During his studies, Tim Jarman specialised in electronic engineering prior to running his own electronics service business. His entry into QinetiQ (then DERA) in 1998 was initially as a specialist in ‘Smart’ structures but his skills in instrumentation and his interest in a wide range of NDT techniques found him almost permanently working with the NDE Group, which he joined in 1999. Tim spends a proportion of his time on radiographic NDE. As part of the NDE Systems Development Team in the NDE Group Tim is responsible for electronic design of a wide range of instrumentation.