Several times a year, we take you behind the scenes at Sensile Technologies to meet one of the members of our team. Today, we invite you into our R&D office to get to know Andrey Marinov, Senior Electronic Engineer.

A physicist with a passion for antennas and radio communications

Andrey Marinov joined our R&D team in January 2023. He is responsible for the antennas on our telemetry products, and every day he takes up the challenge of hardware for radio communication.

Born in Bulgaria and holding a doctorate in particle physics, he began his career as a researcher. An appointment at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), where he worked for 15 years, brought him to Switzerland. At CERN, he played a key role in one of the largest particle physics experiments at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), known as CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid). His work contributed to the collective effort that led to the groundbreaking discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012.

Wishing to pursue a career in the corporate world, he then worked in the R&D departments of a start-up and two international companies, before joining Sensile Technologies. He is a polyglot, speaking Bulgarian, English, French, Russian and even a little German.

He owes his expertise in antennas and radio communications to his academic and professional career, of course, but also to a passion for amateur radio that he has cultivated since he was a teenager.

His days spent in Sensile Technologies’ laboratory testing equipment, or in front of his computer designing new printed circuit diagrams, in no way affect his passion for this hobby. He has a certain number of antennas around his house that enable him to make contact with other enthusiasts. When he goes hiking, which is also one of his favourite activities, he naturally takes a radio with him to take advantage of the altitude and communicate over longer distances.

A taste for solving complex problems

Transmitting signals as far as possible is one of the challenges that Andrey takes on for our telemetry units, knowing that all sorts of technological and physical constraints have to be taken into account. At the moment, for example, he is working on the design of an antenna for one of our new products, which will have to be placed in a very small space, while guaranteeing excellent performance.

He’s not daunted by any technical challenge, quite the contrary: he enjoys tackling the most complex problems, and even more so if they are deemed unsolvable. While starting with a good cup of coffee in the morning and listening to jazz to concentrate will certainly help him in this task. It’s his physicist’s eye that makes the difference, as it complements the engineers’ approach.

He also enjoys working as part of a team and benefiting from the engineers’ perspective: it’s a win-win collaboration. He particularly likes this dynamic at Sensile Technologies where, he says, the team is close-knit and has retained the agility of a start-up, with a great deal of freedom to be oneself and make choices.

Visit Andrey’s LinkedIn profile to find out more about his career.