Our Story

Where it all began

Full Matrix began in 2020 with a love of ultrasonic waves and decades of experience of numerical modelling to investigate their interaction with defects and different geometries. I started out initially offering consulting services. However, bursting with ideas tried out only in the virtual world, I had a strong desire to make equipment and try the ideas out for real.

A family partnership with complementary skills 

In spring 2021, I had a meeting with my dad in his front garden (the Covid pandemic was still raging). He’s a world expert in electron beam welding so he had the necessary skills to design and make an electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) and develop electronics to send and receive pulses. I managed to convince him to join me. Within a few days, Allan had made our first EMAT and we were getting signals!

Getting into fusion 

It’s important to me that the work is valued, particularly if it’s helpful to something as exciting and beneficial for the planet as fusion will be. One of the ideas I’d played with modelling was the idea of ‘deciphering’ sound waves after they’d been through complex paths like pipes with multiple bends. I wrote a proposal on the creation of a digital twin of fusion supply pipes and submitted it to the SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) FIP (Fusion Industry Programme) challenge set up by UKAEA (United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority) who are responsible for the UK’s effort in fusion. To my delight, we won the initial feasibility study. We then won subsequent projects which involved taking the technology to prototype stage. To do this, we needed to expand the company. 

Growing the company 

In 2023, we started hiring. Keeping with the family theme, my husband, also an expert in ultrasound, officially joined us. Then, I discovered that both an esteemed ex-colleague and their son (who had just graduated from Cambridge in Natural Sciences) were job hunting. We convinced them both to join us and from then on, with the momentum picking up, we started to attract many more excellent people.

Our mission today 

There are now seven of us. Our team has expanded but our core values remain the same. We still lead with curiosity and enthusiasm for solving industry’s challenges. We are proud to be part of the future fusion supply chain, and we are now adapting our technology into other industries like rail and water. We continue to be passionate about developing ultrasonic sensor systems that push the boundaries of inspection and condition monitoring.