Owen McAree

Director & Principal Consultant at Aerofirm
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(386) 825-5501
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Joachim Schlosser

Owen McAree to me is a maker by heart. He makes things happen, he creates, and he lives for the subjects he lives from. Owen has deep experience in applying MATLAB & Simulink to hardware related projects in aeronautical, automotive and robotic fields. Additionally he is dedicated to improve the education for STEM students of all age levels.

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Credentials

  • Certificate of Practical Flight Assessment (Fixed-wing)
    Drone Pilot Academy
    Mar, 2018
    - Nov, 2024
  • Unmanned Aircraft Pilot Qualification (Multirotor <20kg)
    Whispercam
    Mar, 2016
    - Nov, 2024
  • Private Pilots Licence (Aeroplanes)
    Civil Aviation Authority
    Jul, 2003
    - Nov, 2024
  • First Aid at Work (FAW)
    Health and Safety Executive
    Jun, 2016
    - Nov, 2024

Experience

  • Aerofirm Ltd
    • United Kingdom
    • Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • Director & Principal Consultant
      • Nov 2019 - Present

      Safety assurance and quantitative risk assessment for Extended/Beyond Visual Line Of Sight drone operations. Technical consultant specialising in all aspects of advanced drone technology including novel aeromechanical design, sensor systems, autopilot systems, software systems, computer vision systems, autonomous operation Safety assurance and quantitative risk assessment for Extended/Beyond Visual Line Of Sight drone operations. Technical consultant specialising in all aspects of advanced drone technology including novel aeromechanical design, sensor systems, autopilot systems, software systems, computer vision systems, autonomous operation

  • Neuron Innovations
    • United Kingdom
    • Software Development
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • Head of Research And Development
      • Sep 2022 - Present

      Technical lead on aviation sensor hardware integration and embedded hardware/software development. Developing sensor gateway hardware and custom OpenWRT based firmware. Developing high fidelity spatial modelling of RF sensor network coverage.

    • Principal Research Engineer
      • Feb 2022 - Sep 2022

      Technical lead on aviation sensor hardware integration and embedded software development. Developed prototype sensor gateway hardware and custom OpenWRT based firmware. Developing high fidelity spatial modelling of RF sensor network coverage.

  • Zipline
    • United States
    • Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • System Safety Engineer
      • Jun 2019 - Present

      Developing high fidelity quantitative air/ground risk simulation models for BVLOS drone operations in complex airspace. Identifing gaps in software-in-the-loop test, hardware-in-the-loop test and flight test coverage, and finding efficient ways to improve coverage, and appropriately prioritise these. Facilitating development of certification safety case for high volume operations. Developing high fidelity quantitative air/ground risk simulation models for BVLOS drone operations in complex airspace. Identifing gaps in software-in-the-loop test, hardware-in-the-loop test and flight test coverage, and finding efficient ways to improve coverage, and appropriately prioritise these. Facilitating development of certification safety case for high volume operations.

  • Liverpool John Moores University
    • United Kingdom
    • Higher Education
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Research Fellow (Drone Technology)
      • Jan 2020 - Dec 2021

      Co-investigator on EPSRC project "Using drones to protect biodiversity and spur economic growth in Madagascar". Integration of visual and thermal imaging sensors with large drone platforms designed for BVLOS operations in support of wildlife conservation. Co-investigator on EPSRC project "Using drones to protect biodiversity and spur economic growth in Madagascar". Integration of visual and thermal imaging sensors with large drone platforms designed for BVLOS operations in support of wildlife conservation.

  • LiveLink Aerospace Ltd
    • United Kingdom
    • Airlines and Aviation
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • Chief Technology Officer
      • Apr 2021 - Nov 2021

      Technical oversight of drone detection and tracking sensor development. Requirements capture and decomposition for radio direction finding, electro-optical and acoustic sensors alongsidecloud based sensor fusion. Development of verification and validation schemes for sensors and fusion algorithms.

    • Senior Aerospace Engineer
      • Mar 2020 - Apr 2021

      Leading the development of a passive radar network for drone detection and tracking. Developed a novel, solid-state, radio direction finding system based around a cutting edge software defined radio. Designed and implemented both FPGA based signal processing pipeline along with GPU accelerated embedded. Linux based non-parametric sensor fusion algorithm for multiple target tracking between multiple sensor nodes

  • Liverpool John Moores University
    • United Kingdom
    • Higher Education
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Senior Research Officer (Drones & Geospatial Technology)
      • Sep 2017 - Oct 2019

      Technical lead on drone research across Faculty of Science. Responsible for developing new research aircraft and avionics systems, maintenance and modification of the existing fleet, training of research staff and students, and sign off of operational risk assessments. Nominated Director of Flight Operations (DFO) for the faculty with a duty to ensure compliance with the University’s Operations Manual and Permission for Commercial Operation (PfCO). Line manager with two direct reports and operational manager of all drone activity including oversight of all academic and research staff in addition to undergraduate and postgraduate students.Independent research activity including development of novel positional awareness and navigation systems, artificial situation awareness in support of artificial intelligence based decision making and the development of safe-by-design software and avionics systems.

  • The University of Sheffield
    • Higher Education
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Senior Research Fellow
      • Nov 2014 - Sep 2017

      Researcher for the EPSRC Verifiable Autonomy project (EP/L024942/1), developing techniques for the verification of autonomous decision making by vehicles such as driverless cars and unmanned aircraft. Specialising in the development of autonomous decision making for vehicles operating in complex environments, requiring the use of abstract stochastic models, designed in such a way as to enable formal verification to be performed.Working closely with both the Department for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority on the impact of upcoming technologies on future regulatory reforms. One of only two academic representatives on the UK Governments Drone Industry Action Group, recognised as an expert in the safety issues associated with highly autonomous flight.No formal teaching commitments, but helped develop a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on robotics and autonomous system and delivered a number of guest lectures on unmanned aircraft systems. Regularly provide supervision and mentoring to undergraduate and postgraduate projects involving unmanned aircraft systems. Recognised as a ‘dedicated’ and ‘outstanding’ mentor by a number of students.

    • Chief SUA Pilot
      • Oct 2015 - Jun 2017

      Responsible for all Small Unmanned Aircraft (SUA) operation undertaken within the Sheffield Robotics research group. Holder of Permission for Commercial Operation (PFCO) on behalf of Sheffield Robotics for SUA up to 20kg. Manage the design, build and operation of various SUA platforms by researchers and students from across The University of Sheffield, ensuring compliance with current regulations and best practices. Responsible for training new pilots in the operation of SUA and existing pilots in the operation of high complexity systems.Organised and ran the aerial robotics activities associated with the UK Robotics Week – Field Robotics Challenge in June 2016, involving responsibility for the safe operation of SUA by 40 international researchers.Undertake commercial SUA operation on behalf of the University of Sheffield and research partners.

  • MathWorks
    • United States
    • Software Development
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Education Technical Specialist
      • Sep 2013 - Oct 2014

      Working with top UK universities to develop teaching materials based around MATLAB and Simulink. Particular area of expertise was in the connection of MATLAB/Simulink to hardware devices such as Raspberry Pi or Arduino through code generation and run-on-target-hardware support. Developed a number of demonstrations based around computer vision, autonomous robot control and unmanned aircraft control; including simulations at varying degrees of fidelity to allow for rapid design optimisation.Technical lead for student competitions in the UK including Formula Student. Helped to launch a bi-weekly webinar series providing technical support to Formula Student teams. Developed an autonomous robotics control competition to supplement the engineering teaching activities at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford.

  • Loughborough University
    • United Kingdom
    • Higher Education
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Research Associate
      • Oct 2012 - Sep 2013

      Research associate working on the EPSRC Towards More Autonomy for Unmanned Vehicles project (EP/J011525/1), specialising in the development of artificial situation awareness for large Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). Primary role was the implementation of advanced autonomous control and situation awareness algorithms on small scale vehicle test beds. Additional responsibilities include supervision of PhD and undergraduate students. Management and maintenance of laboratory equipment including small unmanned aircraft and ground vehicles.

  • Loughborough University
    • United Kingdom
    • Higher Education
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Teaching Assistant
      • Sep 2009 - Jun 2012

      Taught both MATLAB and Control Engineering to first and second year undergraduates.Ran Control Engineering laboratory exercises involving modelling and closed loop velocity control of a DC motor. Taught both MATLAB and Control Engineering to first and second year undergraduates.Ran Control Engineering laboratory exercises involving modelling and closed loop velocity control of a DC motor.

  • Rolls-Royce
    • Industrial Machinery Manufacturing
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Engineering Intern
      • Jul 2006 - Mar 2008

      Worked in both Engine Health Monitoring (EHM) and Advanced Propulsion Systems Development (APSD) Worked in both Engine Health Monitoring (EHM) and Advanced Propulsion Systems Development (APSD)

Education

  • Loughborough University
    Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Unmanned Aerial Systems
    2009 - 2013
  • Loughborough University
    Master of Engineering (MEng), Aeronautical Engineering
    2004 - 2009

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