Niko B.Private profile: Upwork shows its earnings only to signed-in members, so we check it every few weeks, not daily. MRR here is a rough estimate (Upwork's six-month earnings ÷ months active). Last read Nov 5, 2026.

Hardware and embedded engineer for long-term product work: I take boards from requirements to production and keep the firmware running in the field. Railway (EN 50155), military, mining and IoT. WHAT YOU GET WORKING WITH ME LONG TERM • One engineer for schematic, PCB layout and firmware, so nothing gets lost between hardware and software • Production-ready output every time: schematic PDF, layout project, BOM with manufacturer part numbers, Gerbers, pick-and-place, 3D STEP, and a firmware repository with a README • Weekly progress notes, and a checklist design review before any board goes to fab • Ownership across revisions: bring-up, fixes, cost-down and the next version CORE EXPERTISE • PCB & hardware: 2–6 layer boards, mixed-signal, power electronics (400 V DC/DC, BLDC and proportional valve drives, BMS, solar MPPT), galvanically isolated interfaces, flex PCBs, controlled-impedance routing • Embedded firmware: C and C++ on STM32, NXP, ESP32, nRF52 and dsPIC; FreeRTOS and Zephyr; CAN / J1939, RS485 / Modbus, Ethernet, LTE-M, LoRaWAN, BLE; bootloaders, low-power design and watchdog recovery • Compliance & validation: EN 50155 rail electronics, EMC-aware layout, bench bring-up, power profiling and automated test scripts SELECTED PROJECTS Railway, military & heavy machinery • Railway HVAC BLDC motor controller to EN 50155, with robust power management and EMC/safety compliance • 5-channel proportional valve driver to EN 50155: 14-bit current feedback, PID control and a hardware overcurrent latch. In production. • 200–400 V to 2 × 24 V / 42 A DC/DC supply for a mining machine's tool drive, with STM32 control over CAN. Built in production. • High-voltage power distribution box for an anti-terrorism vehicle, plus the low-voltage distribution and undervoltage protection boards • Industrial gateway with galvanically isolated Ethernet, CAN, RS485, RS232 and 1-Wire IoT & edge devices • LoRaWAN soil-sensor node: hardware through six revisions plus FreeRTOS firmware, 2 µA idle current • RS485-to-LTE-M gateway firmware with AES-encrypted server upload, SMS relay, bootloader and PC configuration tool • Thermal AI camera node: Raspberry Pi 5, FLIR Lepton, STM32 UPS supervisor, 4G LTE and LoRa • Solar IoT motor controller with STM32WL LoRaWAN or nRF52840 BLE variants on one PCB • Handheld AI/UWB smart light: ESP32 plus a Linux AI module, UWB localisation, IMU and a 12 V LED drive Automotive & diagnostics • Car OBD diagnostics tool: STM32 hardware, reverse-engineered CAN messages, GPS logging • Apple Watch diagnostic port PCB, delivered production-ready for PCBWay RESEARCH Battery and supercapacitor characterisation at Keysight: EIS calibration for production and a battery digital twin in QSPICE. Co-author of a peer-reviewed paper in Energies (2025). TOOLS Altium Designer, KiCad · STM32CubeIDE, CMake, Git · Python test tooling · Nordic PPK2 · QSPICE If you're building a product and want one engineer to own the electronics across revisions, send me your requirements or your current design. I'll reply with questions and a plan for the first milestone.