Curriculum Vitae

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Afonso Fortes Ferreira

Full-stack Hardware and Firmware Engineer working on medical sensors, IoT devices, signal processing, and machine learning. Based in The Hague, Netherlands.

afonsofortes@tecnico.ulisboa.pt · afonsof3rreira · afonso-fortes-ferreira

Technical Skills

Firmware — C, C++, ARM Cortex-M (ESP32, nRF52), 8051, BLE, UART/SPI/I²C, JTAG/SWD, Git
Hardware — analog front-end design, low-noise/low-current/high-impedance measurement, precision ADC, 4-layer & flex PCB, e-textiles, connectors, SMD rework, DFM/DFA, oscilloscope, logic analyser
Signal Processing — sensor characterisation and calibration, sensor fusion, data acquisition, real-time processing
Software — Python (NumPy, SciPy, pandas, scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, instrument control, GUIs), MATLAB, SQL, LabVIEW, Java
Biomedical — biosignal acquisition (EDA, PPG, EMG, ECG, EEG), protocol design, clinical studies, statistical analysis
Mechanical — SolidWorks (3D CAD), 3D printing
Languages — English (professional), Portuguese (native), Spanish (intermediate), Dutch (beginner), French (beginner)

Experience

Independent Consultant — Wearables, Sensors & Embedded Hardware
August 2021 – present

  • Lola Wireless Inc — Modernised legacy GPS and radio-dispatch systems: real-time GPS data modules, new controls, user-activity and audio tracking, and network interfaces. Designed and managed manufacturing of 200+ firmware-flashed PCB units for customer deployments.
  • EmotiphAI — Redesigned a smartwatch for physiological and affective-computing biosignal acquisition and a real-time collection UI. Pitched to investors, secured the first B2B sales lead. Manufactured 60+ units.
  • Airbliss+ — Co-developed an ISO-standardised test bench validating a smart mask (PPE wearable) with particulate-matter sensors; led the LabVIEW/Python GUI for test control and logging.
  • Confidential (NDA) — Wearable consultancy on heart-rate/stress-sensing headphones (ergonomics and sensors) and an e-textile EMG armband for silent text input via EMG-driven interaction. Assessed prototype scalability and established e-textile and conductive-ink supply partners for manufacturing.
  • Sandviper LLC — Managed an international team reviewing hardware and firmware for a smart footwear device. Proposed app features and user-insight strategies for growth. Reviewed prior-art patents.

R&D Engineer — ScientISST
November 2021 – present

  • Validated the ScientISST CORE board: Bluetooth data rate and packet loss, ADC temporal stability, battery life, and inductive charging (results published in HardwareX).
  • Developed breakout PCBs, modules and sensors, including ScientISST MAKER, a DIY solderable Arduino-compatible board.
  • Contributed to the ScientISST and BioSPPy open-source repositories (1M+ downloads); ran biosignal acquisition and soldering workshops for high school and university students, and presented the technology at national and international events.

Founder and R&D Engineer — Sympathia Technologies
September 2023 – present

  • Spun out of the PhD research, Sympathia Sense is a modular wearable sock/smartwatch used by other researchers and companies for affective computing and clinical studies. Documented as a case study in Open Source Biomedical Engineering: Bridging the Gap Between Sensing, Processing, and Visualization (Springer, 2026).

PhD Student — Instituto Superior Técnico
September 2024 – present

  • Applied research on anxiety disorders through the design, testing, and validation of a wearable EDA and body-motion sensing platform (smart sock).
  • Built the signal processing pipeline for motion-artifact detection and removal in ambulatory recordings.
  • Research is conducted at HSM, the largest public hospital in Portugal, together with the University’s psychiatric clinic and, since March 2026, the CWI’s Distributed & Interactive Systems Group (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) as a research visitor.

Research Engineer — INESC-MN, Lisbon
April 2023 – September 2024

  • Developed and validated optimized sensors for physiological data acquisition, and garments integrating e-textiles through industrially scalable methods.
  • Worked on a mobile application in Flutter for research data acquisition.
  • Industry collaboration with Meia Mania and Torres Fardas, alongside a multinational electronics manufacturer (NDA). This work led directly into the PhD.

Research Fellow — Instituto de Telecomunicações, Lisbon
September 2021 – February 2023

  • Wearable technology for unobtrusive seizure monitoring in epilepsy, with researchers from Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Aveiro and INESC-MN, alongside industry partners.
  • Multimodal e-textile acquisition systems, human-subject experiments, and statistical analysis of prototype performance.
  • Awarded “Best Poster by Accenture” at E.Awards@Técnico 2021/22, leading a multidisciplinary MSc and PhD team.

Internships

August – October 2021

  • PeekMed — Active-learning framework for medical image segmentation, achieving high performance at reduced labelling effort. Python, TensorFlow, SciPy, scikit-learn.
  • Instituto de Telecomunicações — 3D casing for a wearable affective-computing device, plus production and assembly documentation for 50 units. SolidWorks, 3D printing.

Education

BSc and MSc, Biomedical Engineering — Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon
2017 – 2022
Master’s GPA 18/20. Exchange semester at the University of Bern, Switzerland (2020/21).
MSc thesis (19/20): Novel Wearable Sock for Multimodal Peripheral Biosignal Acquisition.

Simulation and Control of Drones — MOOC, Instituto Superior Técnico.

Publications

Eight publications, including Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio), HardwareX, Sensors, and a book chapter in Open Source Biomedical Engineering (Springer, 2026). Full list with DOIs on the publications page.