Meet Our People
Richard Arthurs
Firmware/Software Engineer
Richard graduated from Simon Fraser University, B.C., with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechatronic Systems Engineering. He led a multi-university design team to develop the On-Board Computer (OBC) for the OrcaSat spacecraft mission and went on to take a technical leadership role in a project to develop an on-board SAR image formation processor for spacecraft at SpaceAlpha Insights. Richard relishes cross-disciplinary challenges utilizing his experience in electronics, software, firmware, and test engineering. He also has experience with drone autopilots and ASIC verification.
Tate Baker
Mechanical Engineer
Tate received his BASc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Victoria and has 10 years of UAV experience. He loves challenges in new environments whether it’s snowshoeing through blizzards or testing high temperature industrial drones. He is passionate about classical mechanical engineering as well as user-focused product design. Tate’s engineering skills include thermal management, lightweight aerospace structures, and iterative prototyping using both consumer and industrial 3D printers.
Tim Bartoo
Principal Software Engineer, Chief Philosophy Officer
Tim is a digital audio hardware, firmware and software designer with decades of experience. Since 2007, Tim has been the lead engineer on the TiMax2 project (www.timaxspatial.com). TiMax2 is a delay matrix mixer specializing in the localization of sound for live events. In 2019, Tim got curious about radio-frequency engineering, and joined the aiRadar team in a consultative role. It does of course turn out that the engineering of state-of-the-art audio has a few things in common with the engineering of state-of-the-art radar. Tim wrote the specification for aiRadar’s radar programming language aiRPL, and is aiRadar’s Chief Philosophy Officer.
Hugo Burd
Software Engineer
Hugo graduated from the University of Victoria with a BEng in Computer Engineering and a minor in Mathematics. Prior to aiRadar, Hugo developed ground and space segment software for space systems. In this role, he built tools for executing machine learning models on embedded systems, and designed communications protocols for low-latency robotics control. Hugo enjoys working across software layers — from firmware to host-side software — to develop robust, integrated software solutions.
Terry Doyle
Vice President Sales
From 1958 to 1985, Terry was a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Air Navigator. His last tour was as Commanding Officer 404 Squadron in Greenwood, NS. Following that, between 1985 and 1991 Terry was Sales Manager at three defence companies. He jointed MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) in 1991 and worked as Director Defence Sales until 2016. During that period, he booked sales of more than $1.2 billion, including the CP 140 Imaging Radar System and the Department of National Defence (DND) contribution to the RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM). In 2016, he joined Honeybadger Inc. as VP Sales, and aiRadar in 2023 in the same position. Terry as a BSc Honours Physics from St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS.
Peter Fox
Founder and CTO Emeritus
Peter Fox received his Ph.D. Electronic Engineering from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 1986, with a thesis on Electronically Focused Multiple Beam Side Scan Sonar. He took a position as Chief Engineer at Klein Associates in New Hampshire, United States, one of the leading Side Scan Sonar companies. After moving to Canada, he worked for Kongsberg Maritime as Engineering Manager, Product Manager Offshore and Naval Products and Senior Design Engineer. With MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) he worked to define the requirements of the Multibeam Dynamically Focused Side Scan Sonar for the Canadian Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel (MCDV) programme. In 1998, while at MDA he was appointed Principal Engineer and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Payload Lead Engineer on the RADARSAT-2 Mission, responsible for technical leadership in all aspects of the payload. In 2008, after the successful launch into space and commissioning of Radarsat-2, he returned to the underwater world of Kongsberg Maritime, where he architected and developed the M3 Sonar, which remains the gold standard of image quality in its class. In 2013, Peter joined UrtheCast as VP SAR. In 2018, he founded aiRadar, building a team with extensive experience in mmWave and cmWave active imaging to advance the commercial and military use of extremely compact, high resolution Active Electronically Scanned Arrays (AESA) mmWave radar.
Sam Frese
Senior Hardware and Systems Engineer
Sam has a BASc in Electrical Engineering with nine years of experience working with coherent sensors. Sam started his career with UrtheCast as an electrical system engineer working on a dual band spaceborne SAR. He has since carried on with his career working on radar systems with aiRadar. With both employers being startups or small businesses, he has got to wear a variety of hats. This has given Sam the opportunity to build up a broad set of skills within the electrical engineering discipline. This includes FPGA development, high-speed PCB design, embedded software, and system verification. With aiRadar, he has seen his skills pushing him towards a role in system engineering and bringing products to life from requirements through to verification.
Caleb Gimpel
Caleb has a BASc in Mechatronic Systems Engineering from Simon Fraser University and has worked as an Electrical and Software Developer at Motorola Solutions, SpaceAlpha Insights and now aiRadar. At SpaceAlpha Insights, he started his role as a test engineer-in-training (EIT), redesigning the test framework for their Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite hardware components; he later transitioned into a new role within the company where he optimized the firmware-based SAR image processing algorithm and reduced resource utilization by 40%. Caleb now joins aiRadar as a Software Engineer (EIT) working on further developing the software systems and expanding the radar test framework.
Michael Grigorian
President and Chief Operating Officer
Michael graduated from Imperial College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, and went on to attain a master’s degree from University College London in Spacecraft Technology. He pursued a career in the space industry starting at Airbus, designing and testing communication payloads in the UK and France, and then MDA Space in Canada where his engineering role evolved into project management. He progressed to managing complex, multi-disciplinary engineering programs at UrtheCast and Space Alpha Insights before taking a senior position at aiRadar Inc. where he is involved in engineering management, company operations, supply chain management and business strategy. Michael is active in youth soccer, coaching on the field as well as being a member of the Board of Directors of Marpole Soccer Club.
Wyatt Gronnemose
Principal Radar Signal Processing Engineer, Ph.D. Candidate
Wyatt received the BASc. and M.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. in 2017 and 2018. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree with Simon Fraser University, while working for aiRadar. His research focuses on developing specialized computational electromagnetics simulation tools for simulating synthetic aperture radar data. These simulations are used to investigate the scattering characteristics from realistic near-earth surface volumes such as snow, ice, and soil. He is experienced in field work and has taken part in radar data capture campaigns in Kluane Lake, YT; Dawson City, YT; Churchill, MB; and, Svalbard Norway.
Peter Jenkins
Lead Electronics and Mechanical Integration
Peter has over 35 years of experience in the field of printed circuit board design and layout. His expertise in schematic layout includes symbol design and creation, and library maintenance and integration. Peter’s expertise in circuit board layout includes component footprint design and creation. He is also experienced in high-speed digital, analog, flex circuits and microwave technologies. Peter has a thorough understanding of the fabrication and assembly processes for all these technologies. His design skills include: stripline; edge coupling; impedance control differential and DDR length control matching; high current considerations; and, shielding design.
Max Manning
Principal Radar Engineer, Ph.D. Candidate
Max received concurrent undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from Dalhousie University in 2019. He developed an interest in radar systems while completing his capstone project, in which he built a passive radar system which uses the echoes of ambient FM broadcast signals to detect and track aircraft hundreds of kilometers away. Max received a master’s degree in systems design engineering from the University of Waterloo in 2022, where he developed computer vision algorithms for sea ice mapping from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. He is currently employed at aiRadar Inc. and is pursuing a Ph.D. in the synthetic aperture radar laboratory (SAR Lab) at Simon Fraser University. His research interests include development of radar hardware systems and novel algorithms for airborne SAR, including motion compensation and 3D sub-surface imaging.
Bernhard Rabus
SAR consultant, Professor of the School of Engineering Sciences, SFU SAR Lab
Dr. Rabus’s research program as NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Synthetic Aperture Radar at SFU’s School of Engineering is deeply involved with its industry partners, MDA Systems Ltd., aiRadar Inc., and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). MDA, aiRadar and CSA co-fund the Chair and School of Engineering Science, also providing access to their research network as in-kind support. The goals of the NSERC Alliance research program aligns strongly with the objectives and strategic priorities of the CSA and the development of STEM in the field of advanced engineering and SAR. Dr. Rabus’ research interests include SAR methods and applications with a focus on maritime applications, and novel land applications using advanced interferometric and polarimetric time series analysis techniques. Dr. Rabus has a Ph.D. Geophysics, from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and an M.Sc., Physics, from the Technical University of Munich
Art Ramirez
Director, Business Development
Art holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and is a certified international trade professional (CITP) in good standing. For nearly 30 years, Art has worked with Canadian and allied stakeholders in the defence, security, and intelligence communities to deliver or develop ISR solutions up to and including TOP SECRET. With an initial focus on space-based radar, he has also worked with related technologies and processes, such as RF surveillance and geospatial intelligence.
Kirk Richardson, AScT, EIT
Electronics Engineer
Kirk received a Dipl.T. in Robotics & Automation from BCIT and a BEng in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Business from the University of Victoria. Prior to aiRadar, Kirk spent 15 years focused on embedded electronics, systems, and product development in the high-tech sectors including marine, automotive, and renewables. From 2021-2023 Kirk taught as an Adjunct Professor in the UBC Integrated Engineering department supporting the 300-level capstone project courses. In this role, Kirk contributes to hardware development, printed circuit board design, and flight operations at aiRadar. In 2023, Kirk joined the BC Society of Engineering and Geoscience (BCSEG) Board of Directors and in 2024 he joined the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge Management Society (CSDCMS) Board. Both organizations advocate for engineering and STEM initiatives throughout BC and Canada.