Born in Huntsville, aerospace electronics company RadioBro has announced that it has been acquired by Knoxville-based Technology for Energy Corporation (TEC). RadioBro president and co-founder Mark Becnel will be stepping into the role of Chief Technology Officer with TEC.

“We’re excited to be a part of the growing TEC team,” said Mark Becnel, CEO of RadioBro. “With this new relationship, we’ll be able to rapidly scale and provide unique products and services across multiple industries. The level of service and quality our customers have come to expect will only continue with this new venture with TEC.”

Becnel holds a Bachelors of Science in Physics from the University of New Orleans and completed a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, focusing on Advanced Propulsion. While at UAH, Becnel was a leader of the Space Hardware Club and the ChargerSat 1 program. He was involved in the machining, testing, and cleanroom operations of ChargerSat 1, a 1U CubeSat now in orbit.

Following the completion of a small spacecraft project at UAH, Becnel and his identical twin brother Eric founded the space and aviation startup in Madison in March 2014 with a focus on providing small spacecraft electronics using NASA-grade production. By November of that year they shipped their first MiniSatCom products to overseas CubeSat teams just days after new federal regulations changed to accommodate the export of commercial communications satellite components from the U.S.

The RadioBro team continued to innovate, developing and delivering a variety of high quality products within a short timeframe. The company also offers production and testing services in partnership with space-grade assembly teams.

“RadioBro has a core set of technologies that collect data remotely and transmit the data back to a server which could be used to benefit our customers in both our electric power and aviation product lines,” said Buddy Simpkins, CEO of TEC. “Additionally, they have focused on avionics development and have technologies that may be useful to our aviation product line helping us expand towards on-board avionics. As an agile company, they are strong in rapid product development and have spent the last seven years developing some cool technology.”