Mike Miller mentors big new institute for telecommunications research at University of South Australia

University of South Australia’s institute for telecommunications research, founded by Mike Miller, grew into Australia’s largest university-based research body in wireless and defence communications, focused in satellite and terrestrial wireless communications.  
Images courtesy University of South Australia

Mike Miller was named Australian professional engineer of the year in 1995 – a year after he founded the University of South Australia’s institute for telecommunications research in 1994.

It grew into Australia’s largest university-based research body in wireless and defence communications, focused in satellite and terrestrial wireless communications.

After post-graduate study in Canada and the United States, Miller's telecommunications began in the post master general's department (later Telstra) leading to an academic position at the South Australian Institute of Technology (later University of South Australia).

A digital communications group was founded by Miller in the 1980s within the University of South Australia’s school of electronic engineering, leading to the institute for telecommunications research. Its early research focused on modulation and error control coding, signal processing and encryption to satellite and mobiles – technologies underpinning later networks.

Miller was a leader in the 1998 cooperative research centre for satellite systems to accelerate Australian industry uptake of these technologies. He also was founding director of the Australian information technology engineering centre in 1992 as a consortium of the three South Australian universities and TAFE as part of the federal government’s advanced engineering centres program. It offered an innovative five-year master of engineering program in information technology and telecommunications and delivered AusAID and telecommunications into southeast Asia.

Miller also had long involvement with the Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith Fund advisory committee, funding many aerospace research and training in South Australia.

With the Australian government’s foreign affairs and trade department, Miller engaged particularly in exchange programmes in science and engineering with South Korea. He has worked as foreign specialist or honorary professor with many universities on commercial throughout Asia, South America and the UK.

Miller was chairman of mNet, the 2001 startup company that built Adelaide’s first wireless city-area network using WiFi rather than 3G mobile telephony. Important Adelaide companies born through Miller's influence were Cohda Wireless, significant internationally in vehicle-to-vehicle communication and self-driving cars; and Myriota, in the internet of things satellite category.  

In 2017, Miller started the industry mentoring network in STEM to develop a new generation of industry-aware PhD graduates by engaging mentors actively with PhD students.