Digital Locations, Inc., is developing SatennaTM, a breakthrough technology that will enable delivery of high-speed Internet from satellites directly to smartphones all over the world. Today, high-speed Internet (also known as broadband Internet) is only available in densely populated areas around the world. The rest of the world is still waiting. Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and others are launching tens of thousands of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. Unfortunately, without the use of additional equipment, the technology does not yet exist that will allow these satellites to deliver high-speed Internet directly to smartphones. Solving this problem represents an extraordinary business opportunity. Working with a research team from Florida International University (FIU), we are developing SatennaTM, a potentially disruptive technology that only requires modifications on the smartphone side. This breakthrough can potentially eliminate the need to make costly and time-consuming modifications to existing, as well as future satellites. SatennaTM will finally make it possible for the wireless industry to offer high-speed Internet service from satellites directly to smartphones anywhere in the world, with no dead zones and no cell towers. Anyone, anywhere, regardless of location, economic status, race or gender will be able to access high-speed Internet service and benefit from remote learning, health care, government services, telework, participation in public affairs and even Netflix, Amazon and much, much more.
Mr. Berliner has been the CEO of Digital Locations since 2021. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of Fifth Gen Media, Inc., a marketing and publishing company, owned by Mr. Berliner since 2016. From 2012-2015, he served as CEO of Redwing Electric, a wireless construction company, which was later sold to an investor group. In 2011, Mr. Berliner completed a one-year consulting project for the Swedish equipment manufacturer Ericsson. In 1995, he founded Berliner Communications (BCI) and served as Chairman and CEO, which merged with another firm in 2010. Mr. Berliner was responsible for that firm’s quarterly earnings calls and the annual meetings in his role as Chairman. Mr. Berliner graduated from Rutgers with a BA in Business in 1975. He is a Fellow in the Radio Club of America and was elected in 2004.
Our research is performed by a leading team of satellite and wireless communication experts at Florida International University (“FIU”). FIU is the eighth largest public university in the country by enrollment and U.S. News and World Report places dozens of FIU programs among the best in the nation. Washington Monthly Magazine ranks FIU among the top 20 public universities contributing to the public good.
The FIU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) encompasses a broad range of research and educational interests. It is the policy of the Department to involve each faculty member in a balanced combination of research and teaching to fully benefit the students. Many of the ECE faculty members have considerable industrial experience, and many maintain active consulting roles to provide current and relevant knowledge to the students in classroom and research settings.
Dr. Elias A. Alwan is a dedicated educator and researcher with a steadfast devotion to advancing the field of electrical and computer engineering. Since 2017, he has been an Assistant Professor at Florida International University (FIU). From 2020 to 2022, Dr. Alwan was an Eminent Scholar Chaired professor at FIU in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Since working at FIU, he has won three faculty awards, the most recent including the Top Scholar Award for Junior Faculty with Significant Grants (STEM) in May of 2023. As an FIU faculty member, Dr. Alwan has served as the Chair of the College of Engineering and Computing Curriculum Committee since Fall 2021. In this position, he has created and taught many of his own classes, including Basics of RF Systems, and Special Topics Reconfigurable RF Systems. Prior to that, he held senior research and post-doctoral positions at The Ohio State University from 2014 to 2017. Alongside his academic pursuits, Dr. Alwan’s professional experience has led him to serve as a conference organizer and session chair for the 2022 URSI Comm B AT-AP-RAS conference, and the technical program chair for the 2019 International Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT). From 2018 to 2019 he was also a Journals Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Magnetics. Dr. Alwan obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Ohio State University in 2014, and his M.E. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the American University of Beirut in 2009. He completed his B.E. in Computer and Communication Engineering at Notre Dame University-Louaize in Lebanon in 2007.
Dr. Arjuna Madanayake is one of the leading researchers on digital signal processing and wireless communication systems. With two decades of experience in academia, he currently holds a tenured Associate Professor position in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Florida International University (FIU), where he has been since 2018. At FIU he is the founder of the Research and Networking for Development (RAND) Laboratory at FIU, where he mentors graduate and undergraduate students in research and development activities. Dr. Madanayake is also an Honorary Associate Professor Department of Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering at the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka, which he was awarded in 2021. Prior to his role at FIU, he worked as an Associate Professor at the University of Akron in Ohio tenured from 2015 to 2018, and tenure-track from 2009 to 2015. In tandem with his teaching and research pursuits, Dr. Madanayake founded Arcane AI and Wireless LLC in 2023. He is also a co-founder of Deep-Silicon Technologies Pvt Ltd, which was established in 2022. Since 2020, he has held a part-time position as the Hardware Team Lead at Lemurian Labs, Canada. Dr. Madanayake completed his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2008 and his M.Sc in Electrical Engineering in 2004 both at the University of Calgary. In 2002 he graduated with honors from the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka with a B.Sc. in Electronic and Telecommunications.