About Me
My Career so far
I am Dr. David Barr, currently the Acting Head of Software at the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation (CfAI), Durham University. I lead a team of software engineers, spearheading the development of adaptive optics real-time control systems for the European Extremely Large Telescope's HARMONI and MOASIC instruments. My work includes creating and optimizing a low-latency, deterministic MIMO control system, and implementing CI/CD workflows in an agile environment.
Previously, as a Control Engineer at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), I was the technical lead for the ERIS adaptive optics real-time control system and authored ESO's hardware acceleration strategy. My research and development efforts have consistently focused on reducing latency and enhancing performance in complex, heterogeneous computing environments.
I hold an Engineering Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University and the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, where I specialized in reducing adaptive optics latency using many-core processors. My academic background includes a B.Sc. (Hons) in Physics from the University of Aberdeen where I was awarded the Cormack vacation scholarship for my work in complex simulation of orbital mechanics.