Rpanion Electronics is run by Stephen Dade – you can find him on LinkedIn and Github. He is an able software, communications and electronics engineer, focusing on the Ardupilot and MAVLink ecosystems. Custom development and systems integration of these areas is available.

His major area of work is with companion computers (such as the Raspberry Pi). MAVLink and ground station software development is a particular focus.

Additionally, Stephen has over 10 years of experience as a satellite communications engineer. He is able to provide advice and solutions on running MAVLink over 4G, satellite and other high-latency links.

Stephen is experienced in the Raspberry Pi platform, as applied to autonomous vehicles and other robots. This includes video streaming, image processing and networking.

Companion computers do not directly issue low-level commands to an unmanned vehicle. Rather, they do high-level processing and communications. This includes computer vision, path planning or routing vehicle telemetry to 4G or Wi-Fi networks.

Until now, there has been limited hardware and software for the specific task of interfacing with Ardupilot hardware. Rpanion Electronics aims to develop professional and reliable hardware and software solutions for this. This enables companion computers to be easy and quickly integrated into unmanned vehicles.

Stephen has worked with unmanned vehicles since 2010, competing in the UAV Challenge as part of the CanberraUAV team in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018. He is a member of the ArduPilot Development Team, a Chartered Engineer (CPEng) in Telecommunications and Electronics Engineering.

Stephen is based in Canberra, Australia. He is available for custom development in all aspects of ArduPilot vehicles, including electrical system design, software integration and ArduPilot support.

Contact & Support

For any support, queries or custom development, email me at stephen@rpanion.com