ABOUT
ME
Systems & Hardware Engineer
I have spent over 14 years in the defence, transport and space industries, accumulating many skills along the way. I also spend a lot of time on my own professional development, attending courses both online and in-person.
​
Below is a list of my experience.
EXPERIENCE
2022
Project
engineer
Project Engineer working to deliver a complete satellite for global clients
As a Project Engineer, I take the initial design from the System Design Engineer and turn it into a reality for the customer. With regular client interaction I learn and understand their needs, then apply my intimate knowledge of our systems at Nano Avionics to accommodate those needs by modifying and developing our systems.
​
My customer is NASA funded mission with Penn State University, developing a satellite that will detect Black-Hole activity and report it in real-time to telescopes on the ground.
​
Day to day I manage a small team at NA, acting as the point of contact for technical and operational matters, whilst also interacting with the client, catering for their needs as the project develops.
2021-2022
Satellite cluster
Space as a service
-
System engineer for next generation of defence and commercial satellites, designing fixed and flexible platforms to cater for multiple payloads.
-
Customer facing technical pre-sales and bid work, selling payload space and data services.
-
Customer base is the next generation of satellite systems, gaining an insight to the next 10 years of space technology, including Software Defined Radio and Earth Observation.
-
Responsible for the electronic subsystems for the platforms, including development, fabrication and testing.
-
Collaborate with BAE Systems to design a cluster of Intelligence gathering satellites.
Maritime safety& Distress
2019 - 2021
-
Safety Services System Engineer with operational ownership of the infrastructure and service that provides safety services to over 180,000 ships worldwide, ensuring we meet the International Maritime Organisations (arm of United Nations) required levels of availability and performance.
-
Leading third-line response to faults and failures and working to resolve them in a logical, methodical and efficient manner – aiming for 99.9% uptime.
-
Managing all changes and enhancements such that service availability is not compromised.
-
Working with equipment manufacturers, software suppliers and other internal and external stakeholders to define, assess and implement changes and/or enhancements.
-
Maintaining the health of the network and infrastructure to support the global safety service
2015 - 2019
Earth observation
-
Technical Work Package Manager (WPM) for next generation of Push-Broom Imager payloads, with 0.5m resolution. Collaboration with Teledyne e2v and the Open University.
-
WPM for 2 imager payloads - responsible for schedule, budget, test and delivery. The imagers are both multi-spectral, 22-meters in resolution, with both full-colour and near-infrared spectroscopy capabilities.
-
Personally conducted and reviewed full suite of optical tests and adjustments, including alignment, focus with Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) and Radiometry.
-
Development of the FPGA to cater for faster line periods within the CCDs, in order that the imager can operate at lower orbits (for higher resolution images).
-
Client demonstrations for operating the imager payload.
2018
Nasa safetysystem
Worked with NASA to develop a the Start-up Module on RemoveDebrisSAT. I developed the initial design into a qualified unit to be handled aboard the ISS (as seen in photo).
This was built and delivered to meet a critical path activity for deployment, due to a last minute change which saw it deployed from the ISS and not a direct from Falcon 9.
2011 - 2019
radiation monitor
-
Managed a collaboration with Surrey University, taking the Radiation Monitor from a prototype to 3 completed units on the SSTL flagship fleet (DMC-3) in a 3-month time period.
-
Low profile, low power, low cost unit for deployment on all SSTL missions and export market.
-
Product-owner and champion of the unit - as well as interfacing with operations to maintain the units, I manage the Product Development which mainly concerns Radiation Analysis - creating specialist software to process the in-orbit data into human-readable formats.
2013 - 2015
Attitude orbit control system
My role was Work Package Manager, in the ‘Attitude Orbit Control System’ Equipment team.
· Responsible to Project Managers, I was the WPM for over 100 units, across 7 product lines to deliver to 11 satellite missions.
· The products include: Sun Sensors, Magnetometers, Magnetorquers, Gyros, Propulsion Controllers, Interface Modules and the Radiation Monitors.
· A notable achievement was the delivery of over 50 units to a foreign customer within a year, the fastest turnaround the company has for small satellites. Furthermore, this was by some margin the most profitable mission the company has had in several years.
2011 - 2013
-
I achieved delivery of the Earth Ground Support Equipment (EGSE) for 2 scientific instruments used on European Space Agency (ESA) missions.
-
The goal was to design a test system to function during Thermal Vacuum and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) tests at off-site facilities such as MSSL in Dorking and RAL in Oxford.
esa missions
2010 - 2011
military recon equipment
SES is a Curtiss-Wright company which designs and manufactures a range of rugged instrument products for defence.
-
Role: Lead test engineer and champion of the Digital Video and Data Recorder (DVDR), a six-channel video and data recording unit for the German and Italian Air Forces.
-
Board level testing and fault-finding; final unit testing and diagnostics; design of test gear; documentation and reports.
-
Management of industrial testing facilities, including scheduling, programming, repair and maintenance.
-
Managed a small team in the test department, prioritising testing of sub-assemblies to optimise output, in order to meet payment-on-demand deadlines.
-
Initiated a meeting with the Operations Director to turn-around a 90% failure rate on a product, to a failure rate of less than 15%. Involved design and production staff to bring in revised process and procedures.
-
Reduced down-time (by as much as 5 days on some products) of test lines by identifying shortages of equipment and finding suitable replacement instruments.
-
Achieved service improvements and reduction of test time through documentation and procedures.
-
Elected as a staff representative. Operated during key negotiations of staff contracts during takeover from Curtiss-Wright.
2007 - 2008
hardware Engineer
Sperry Rail is a global company which specialise in instrumentation for testing railway track, locating flaws with ultrasonic technology. Responsible to the Chief Engineer:
-
Designed & prototyped a piece of test equipment for a train performance analyser for the export market.
-
Showed creative technical ability by designing a test jig to life test new actuator designs to ascertain suitability for the field.
-
Delivered life test equipment, incorporating both analogue and digital discrete components; included the use of PLC software.
-
Successfully designed, built, tested and implemented test equipment used by Sperry Rail operators which reduced the time taken to fault-find during operations.
-
Planned and reviewed durability testing of a new transformer the company was trialling by using lab test and environmental equipment.
-
Created documentation, including User Guides and production plans in accordance with the company's guidelines.
2011
MASTER OF ENGINEERING
MEng Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Portsmouth
​
-
1st Class Final year project, sponsored by Sperry Rail: showed sound research and analytical ability when designing control system in order to enhance performance for a product variant. Achieved improved stability in order to increase running speed from 50kph to 85 kph. Included simulation and trials, and communications with sponsor’s team and stakeholders to ensure product met business requirements, quality and production needs.
-
Lab work utilized: C programming with micro-controllers, VHDL using FPGA's to achieve task-orientated robots. Achieved an in-depth understanding of component level testing, root cause - analysis and concise technical report writing.
-
Matlab numerical computer environment: successfully designed a Missile Guidance System and built a real-time noise-cancellation DSP system, demonstrating expert level of competence.
-
Studied Game Theory: worked within a small team to deliver a project exploring specialist algorithm applications, communicating with peers.
