Jerome Graves, PhD

I design and build instruments that unite physics, sensing, control and software.

R&D Engineer, PhD. Ultrasonics, robotics, machine vision, embedded systems.

About

Jerome Graves

I am a research and development engineer based in London, with a PhD in electronic engineering from the SPE3D Ultrasonic Lab at London South Bank University (2026), on three-dimensional ultrasound imaging of the crystal structure of ice cores. The research required designing and building the complete measurement chain: an automated multi-axis ultrasonic scanner, acoustic wave propagation models, inversion algorithms and the supporting analysis software.

My work spans C++, Python and MATLAB, PCB design in KiCad, and mechanical design and fabrication. I place particular emphasis on systems that perform reliably beyond the laboratory: measured, validated and documented.

I led LSBU's UniBots UK team to second place in 2024 and third in 2023, and have competed in engineering competitions since undergraduate, including Pi Wars, the IMechE Design Challenge and the Engineering for People national final.

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CV

Segmented grain map from crystal fabric measurement
Doctoral Researcher, SPE3D Ultrasonic Lab, London South Bank University
2022 – 2026
PhD completed July 2026. Designed and built an automated multi-axis ultrasonic scanning system and a camera-based optical instrument, and developed wave propagation models, inversion algorithms and parallel analysis pipelines in MATLAB, Python and C++, reducing analysis runtime by 70%.
London South Bank University
Lecturer and Teaching Assistant, London South Bank University
2023 – 2026
Delivered teaching in engineering, Python, MATLAB and instrumentation, and supervised student projects in embedded systems and electromechanical design.
Ultrasound scan with detected features circled
Research Lead in Ultrasound Testing, London South Bank University and KURE
2022 – 2023
Led a £19,000 industry-funded consultancy, developing automated ultrasonic measurement and detection workflows and delivering validation results directly to the client in support of product development.
Thermal transfer printer printing labels
Associate Researcher, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, London South Bank University and Industrial Partner
2021 – 2022
Technical lead on a £100,000 Knowledge Transfer Partnership to redesign an industrial thermal transfer printer. Developed FPGA motion control in VHDL and led verification and system integration, delivering a twofold productivity increase.
Undergraduate quadruped robot
BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 1st Class, London South Bank University
2017 – 2020
Graduated with first-class honours. Final-year project: a ROS-based quadrupedal robot with embedded control and terrain-adaptive motion. Circuit Design 97%, Digital Systems 88%, Control Engineering 87%.

Projects

The Fabric Analyser: CAD model beside the built instrument
Machine vision instrument
Fabric Analyser (PhD)
A camera-based cross-polarised scanner developed from CAD model to working instrument: three-axis gimbal, custom PCB and firmware, and a Python/OpenCV pipeline that measures the crystal orientations of ice specimens.
The pulse-echo azimuthal scanner: CAD model and built instrument
Ultrasonic instrument
Pulse-Echo Azimuthal Scanner (PhD)
A single-transducer reflection scanner developed from CAD model to working instrument: a motorised rotary stage indexes disk specimens through azimuth while the transducer tracks the curved surface, mapping directional velocity variation and validated experimentally to a best-case orientation error of 4.3 degrees.
The five-axis ultrasonic core scanner: CAD model and built instrument
Ultrasonic instrument
Five-Axis Core Scanner (PhD)
A five-axis pitch-catch ultrasonic scanner developed from CAD model to working instrument: twin steerable transducer carriages around a rotating core, motion control with a load-cell coupling interlock, and a Python acquisition stack that measures how sound crosses intact ice cores from thousands of angles.
Simulated ultrasonic wavefront propagating through a polycrystalline ice disc
Numerical modelling
Anisotropic Wave Modelling and Inversion (PhD)
A finite-difference simulation framework for ultrasonic wave propagation in anisotropic polycrystalline ice: forward model selection, timing methodology and Cramér-Rao accuracy limits, feeding the inversion algorithms that estimate crystal orientation from measured data. Published at the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium 2026.
Full waveform inversion reconstruction from a ring array of transducers
Open source ultrasonics
OpenUSCT
An open-source platform for ultrasound computed tomography: full waveform inversion in Python with C++ and GPU backends, an FPGA acquisition datapath co-simulated in SystemVerilog, and a browser-based studio interface requiring no installation.
Yertle, a 3D printed quadruped robot
Open source robotics
Yertle Quadruped
A low-cost 3D-printed quadrupedal platform for legged locomotion research, developed from my undergraduate final-year project. ROS-based control, embedded firmware and mechanical design, with over 130 stars on GitHub.
The BugBot robot with camera and time-of-flight sensing
Open source robotics
BugBot
An open-source educational robot propelled by ultrasonic friction modulation: ultrasonically vibrated feet modulate ground friction to produce holonomic motion, stabilised by sensor fusion and closed-loop control. An on-board camera provides edge AI vision, from AprilTag localisation to live computer vision in the operator's browser. Custom controller PCB in KiCad, time-of-flight sensing, C/C++ firmware on FreeRTOS, and ROS 2 and simulation support in development.
A cat wearing the Meowtion collar
Embedded machine learning
Meowtion
A wearable activity monitor for cats: nRF52840/Zephyr firmware streaming motion and audio over BLE to an ESP32-S3 base station, cloud-trained machine-learning activity recognition, and a Firebase-backed live dashboard.

Publications

First page of the simulation framework paper
A Finite-Difference Simulation Framework for Ultrasonic Crystal Orientation Fabric Estimation in Ice: Timing Methodology, Forward Model Selection, and the Cramér-Rao Accuracy Limit
J. Graves, S. Harput, B. Lishman. IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, 2026 (accepted).
First page of the experimental validation paper
Non-Destructive Ultrasonic Estimation of Ice Crystal Orientation Fabric: Multi-Frequency Experimental Validation and Failure Mode Characterisation
J. Graves, S. Harput, B. Lishman. IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, 2026 (accepted).
Cover of The Coding Industry white paper
The Coding Industry: A Technological Retrospective and Forecast
J. Graves. White paper, 2026. doi:10.5281/zenodo.20887829
First page of the ice crystal fabrics preprint
Measuring Predominant Orientations of Ice Crystal Fabrics From Ultrasonic Measurements of Ice Cores
J. Graves, B. Lishman, S. Harput. Cold Regions Science and Technology (preprint).
First page of the IUS 2023 paper
Determining the Grain Geometry From Ultrasonic Measurements of Large-Grained Temperate Ice Cores
J. Graves, B. Lishman, S. Harput. IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, 2023. doi:10.1109/ius51837.2023.10307539
Title page of the POAC 2023 paper
An Algorithm for Determining the Grain Geometry From Ultrasonic Measurements of Large-Grained Temperate Ice Cores
J. Graves, B. Lishman, S. Harput. Port and Ocean Engineering under Arctic Conditions, 2023.
First page of the quadruped robot paper
Quadrupedal Robotic Platform for Research on Legged Motion Planning
Undergraduate final year project. Paper (PDF)

Contact

I am currently open to senior research and development engineering roles in ultrasonics, robotics and instrumentation. I am based in London; email is the most reliable way to reach me.

jerome.a.graves@gmail.com LinkedIn GitHub