Dr. Andrew Barker, Ph.D.

Dr. Barker is a physicist with 35 years experience in the design and development of novel optical sensors and optical products.  A Calgary-based, independent optical systems consultant, he is also president and CEO of Eagle Ray Corporation, an Alberta company he co-founded in 2002 to develop and commercialize a high precision laser distance sensor (US 6876441, Barker, "Optical sensor for distance measurement").

Andy received his B.Sc. from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK and his Ph.D. in infrared spectroscopy from King's College, London UK.  Following completion of a research fellowship at King's in 1973, he joined the Optical Systems Division of Sira Ltd., Chislehurst, Kent (a UK contract R&D organization), initially as project leader for the development of automatic, non-contacting print inspection equipment, and subsequently assuming optical system design and project management responsibilities for the development of a wide variety of novel electro-optical equipment including:

• scanning laser systems for on-line inspection of strip products
• optical systems for automatic inspection of product quality
• visual display systems for flight simulation
• large screen video projection systems
• low cost optical sensors for automotive applications

In 1988, Andy joined Ometron, a manufacturing subsidiary of the Sira Group.  Appointed Technical Director in 1990, he assumed additional executive responsibilities but retained primary involvement with the creation and detailed design of Ometron's VPI Sensor, VPI RapidSCAN, SPATE 4000 and VS100.  The VPI and VS products are non-contacting vibration sensors based on laser interferometry; SPATE is a non-contacting dynamic stress sensor based on measurement of dynamic changes in thermal emission.  The VPI product range earned Ometron the Queen's Award for Technology in 1992.

Following a 2 year position as Visiting Senior Research Scientist in the Mechanical Engineering Dept. at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA, Andy settled in Calgary in 1998.  Major consulting contracts since then have included development of a laser system for hair removal, development of new technology for the measurement of intraocular pressure, and development of a multi-spectral tissue viability camera.  He has been contributing to Litebook's product development programme since February 2005.

Andy's creativity has resulted in numerous patents and patent applications during his career.