About

I'm Dimitrios. Here is the path so far.

Fifteen-plus years from electronics design to distributed AI, mostly on systems where memory, power and bandwidth are the constraints that matter.

I started in hardware: a BEng in Electronics and Nanotechnology and an MSc in Embedded Systems Engineering at the University of Leeds, then FPGA-based ultrasound research platforms and motor controllers for high-speed medical devices in the UK.

Back in Greece I moved up the stack. At Prisma Electronics I built industrial IoT and the LAROS vessel-monitoring platform, which won a Lloyd's List Greek Shipping Award. On the EU-funded DAIAD project I designed the embedded side of the Amphiro b1 smart-water device, which received the European Commission's Innovation Radar Prize. At Plaython I directed R&D as a board member, taking gaming hardware from prototype to production.

In 2019 I joined AUEB as a lead research engineer and started a PhD with Prof. Iordanis Koutsopoulos. The work spans software-defined tactical networks, intrusion detection in MANETs, UAV computer vision, and, at its core, how to partition neural networks and large language models across resource-constrained devices so that inference stays fast at the edge. The defence is planned for December 2026.

Since 2023 I have led the IoT department at DeepSea Technologies, part of the Nabtesco Group, architecting the embedded platform for next-generation maritime systems. In parallel I build SynapticOS, an AI-native RTOS for microcontrollers with on-die NPUs, and contribute upstream to Zephyr. I split my time between Athens and Hamburg.

Dimitrios Kafetzis presenting a paper at a conference

Experience

Where I've been

Jun 2023 – presentAthens

IoT Department Director · Embedded Systems Architect

DeepSea Technologies, Nabtesco Group

  • Lead the IoT department that builds the embedded platform behind HyperPilot, DeepSea's DNV type-approved autonomous speed-control system, reporting to the CTO.
  • Design custom Linux distributions with Yocto for mission-critical vessel applications.
  • Architect wireless sensor networks with MQTT-SN and ZigBee for on-board sensing.
  • Ensure compliance with IEC 60945, IEC 61162-450, IEC 61174, IEC 62923, IEC 62443 and IACS E26/E27.
Feb 2019 – presentAthens

Lead Research Engineer

Athens University of Economics and Business, Research Center

  • AI model partitioning for DNN and Transformer inference on edge devices; work-package lead on TARGET-X (Horizon Europe) and SMOTANET (EDIDP).
  • Software-defined networking and radio for tactical MANETs; optimal IDS placement in SDN-enabled networks.
  • Network-forensics framework for tactical networks on the ELK stack; Python middleware on CORE/EMANE for routing and SDN control benchmarks.
  • Twelve publications at venues including IEEE Access, ACM MobiHoc, IEEE/IFIP WiOpt, EuCNC and IEEE SPAWC.
Mar 2020 – Dec 2024UK, Cyprus, Greece (remote)

Embedded Systems & Electronics Design Engineer

Freelance

  • High-end PCBs and audio electronics for premium industrial IoT products; EMC compliance and power electronics.
  • Firmware in C and MicroPython for ST, Microchip, Espressif and TI platforms; educational robotics for STEM programmes.
Jul 2021 – Jul 2022Athens

Software & QA Engineer (military service)

Hellenic Army, Research and IT Corps, IT Support Centre (KEPYES)

Jun 2017 – Jan 2019Athens

R&D Department Director · Systems Architect

Plaython Inc.

  • Directed R&D strategy and systems architecture for gaming technology; member of the Board of Directors.
  • Led hardware/software co-design from prototype to production and managed the engineering teams.
  • Delivered real-time embedded systems in C, C++ and C#.
Jun 2016 – Jun 2017Athens

Software Engineer

Software Competitiveness International (SoftCom Int)

  • Test-driven C, C++ and Python development for the German automotive industry (under NDA).
Sep 2014 – Feb 2016Athens

Technical Consultant · Embedded Systems Engineer

IMIS, "Athena" Research and Innovation Center

  • Project team member on DAIAD (EU FP7): serial protocol interfaces, a C++ API for BLE communication and Altium hardware design for smart-water devices.
Feb 2014 – Jun 2016Athens

Embedded Systems & Software Design Engineer · Project Manager

Prisma Electronics SA

  • Architected industrial IoT solutions with a focus on reliability and quality of service; RTOS and DSP algorithms on TI microcontrollers.
  • Enterprise applications in C#/.NET with Oracle and SQL Server; machine learning for predictive maintenance.
  • Project manager for LAROS platform installations on vessels: technical proposals, planning and monitoring.
Sep 2013 – Feb 2014Aston Clinton, UK

Electronics Design Engineer

deSoutter Medical Group, Zethon Ltd

  • Motor controller for high-speed medical devices: FOC for three-phase BLDC motors above 80,000 RPM.
  • MISRA-C firmware and bootloaders for TI C2000; production-line programming tools in C#/.NET.
Sep 2012 – Sep 2013Leeds, UK

Electronics Design Engineer

University of Leeds, I3S Ultrasound Group

  • FPGA-based ultrasound array research platform (UARP v2) running at 960 Mbps; Verilog RTL on Altera Stratix III/IV.
  • PCB design with LVDS and controlled-impedance routing; thermal and EMI management for medical imaging.
Jun – Sep 2012Athens

Embedded Systems Engineer, internship

Prisma Electronics SA

  • Wireless Personnel Safety System for CERN ATLAS: designed and tested the human fall-detection subsystem and wireless sensor network firmware.
Jun – Sep 2011Athens

Electronics & Electrical Engineer, internship

Electrophot Hellas SA

  • Embedded quality-control system for DC, AC and stepper motors; PV-based power supply design.

Education

Degrees

2019 – 2026

PhD, Artificial Intelligence and Networks

Athens University of Economics and Business, Department of Informatics. Advisor: Prof. Iordanis Koutsopoulos. Defence planned for December 2026.

2012 – 2013

MSc (Eng), Embedded Systems Engineering

University of Leeds, School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering. Merit; postgraduate scholarship.

2009 – 2012

BEng, Electronics and Nanotechnology

University of Leeds, School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering. First Class with Honours.

Teaching

Teaching and supervision

2019 – present

Teaching Fellow and thesis supervisor

AUEB, Department of Informatics. Graduate courses in Mathematics, Computer Networks, C++ programming and relational databases (PostgreSQL). Supervisor of BSc and MSc theses.

2012 – 2013

Laboratory supervisor

University of Leeds. Embedded Systems Engineering; Object-Oriented Programming in Objective-C and Java for iOS and Android.

Funded research

Research projects

Work-package leadership and engineering on EU, national and industry programmes.

PeriodProjectRole and contribution
2024 – 2025TARGET-XHorizon Europe SNS-JUWork-package lead for ML-driven QoE prediction in remote automotive tele-operation. Designed and benchmarked DNN, RNN and Transformer models for video-streaming QoE over 5G/6G testbeds.
2020 – 2024SMOTANETEDIDP 2020, with Intracom Defence SAWork-package lead for cybersecurity and network forensics in software-defined tactical MANETs. ELK-based intrusion detection and forensics on an OpenFlow fabric; CORE/EMANE middleware for routing and SDN benchmarks.
2019 – 2020LEMONADEHellenic Foundation for Research and InnovationDelay-tolerant mobile wireless networks; optimisation models and a DNN partitioning algorithm for AI models at the edge.
2019 – 2020EREVOSH2020, ESMERAReal-time computer-vision pipeline (OpenCV, Faster R-CNN) for GPS-free UAV navigation along railways, accelerated on NVIDIA Jetson Nano.
2014 – 2016DAIADEU FP7-ICTEmbedded systems, BLE communication and hardware design for smart-water monitoring. Innovation Radar Prize 2017.
2015 – 2016LAROSPrisma Electronics SAMaritime vessel monitoring platform; project management of vessel installations. Lloyd's List Greek Shipping Awards 2015.
2012 – 2013UARP v2University of LeedsUltrasound Array Research Platform: FPGA RTL, 960 Mbps high-speed routing and LVDS front-end hardware.
2012WPSSCERN ATLASWireless Personnel Safety System: wireless sensor network and human fall-detection subsystem.

Recognition

Awards

  • Oct 2026Zephyr Technical ContributorThe Linux Foundation, for code contributions to the Zephyr Project. Verified on Credly.
  • Nov 2017Innovation Radar PrizeEuropean Commission, as a member of the R&D team behind the Amphiro b1 product (DAIAD project).
  • Dec 2015Technical Achievement AwardLloyd's List Greek Shipping Awards, as a member of the LAROS R&D team.
  • Dec 2015Most Hard-Working EmployeePrisma Electronics SA.
  • Dec 2012CPC Raspberry Pi Hackathon winnerRaspberry Pi Foundation.
  • Aug 2012Postgraduate Studies ScholarshipUniversity of Leeds, School of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, for outstanding performance during undergraduate studies.
  • May 2011Best Embedded Systems ProjectFarnell UK and University of Leeds, Embedded Systems competition 2010–2011.
  • May 2010Best Electronics Design ProjectUniversity of Leeds, Circuit Analysis and Design competition 2009–2010.

Toolbox

Skills

Languages

  • C
  • C++
  • Python
  • Rust
  • C#
  • Verilog
  • VHDL
  • MATLAB
  • TypeScript
  • Java
  • Objective-C
  • Bash

Embedded and hardware

  • Zephyr RTOS
  • FreeRTOS
  • Mbed OS
  • Yocto / Embedded Linux
  • ARM Cortex-M / A
  • NXP MCX
  • STM32
  • Espressif
  • TI C2000
  • FPGA (Altera)
  • PCB design
  • Altium Designer
  • PADS
  • MISRA C/C++

AI and machine learning

  • PyTorch
  • TensorFlow / Keras
  • OpenCV
  • NumPy
  • scikit-learn
  • INT8 quantisation
  • Model partitioning
  • Distributed inference

Networks and protocols

  • SDN / OpenFlow / Ryu
  • SDR / GNU Radio
  • MANETs / OLSRv2
  • TCP/IP
  • MQTT / MQTT-SN
  • ZigBee
  • Bluetooth LE
  • LoRaWAN
  • WiFi
  • CAN / FlexRay
  • Modbus TCP/RTU
  • NMEA 0183 / Signal K
  • RS-485 / RS-422
  • I2C / SPI / UART / LVDS

Security and forensics

  • ELK stack
  • Snort
  • Wireshark
  • Nmap
  • Metasploit
  • Scapy

Robotics, tooling and cloud

  • ROS 2
  • Gazebo
  • PX4 / ArduPilot
  • Qt 6
  • CMake
  • Docker
  • GitHub Actions / Jenkins
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • LaTeX

Languages: Greek (native), English (fluent), French (intermediate).