Robby McKilliam's Webpage

Biography
Robby McKilliam completed undergraduate studies in computer systems engineering and mathematics at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and obtained his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Queensland in 2010. From 2011 to 2016 he worked as a Research Fellow and later Senior Research Fellow at the University of South Australia. From 2016 to May 2021 he helped Myriota build it's secure, low cost, long-battery life satellite communications technology. He currently works at Whipbird Signals. His technical fields of interest are estimation theory, statistical signal processing, communications, and computational number theory.

Address
Whipbird Signals
1/29 Main Street,
Samford Village, QLD, Australia, 4520

 

 

Teaching
Signals and Systems (EEET 3041). University of South Australia. 2015.
Signals and Systems (EEET 3041). University of South Australia. 2014.
Signals and Systems (EEET 3041). University of South Australia. 2013.
Modern Communication Systems (EEET 4036). University of South Australia. 2012.
Digital Communications (COMS 4100). University of Queensland. 2010.

Thesis
[] R. G. McKilliam. Lattice theory, circular statistics and polynomial phase signals. PhD thesis, University of Queensland, Australia, December 2010. [ bib | pdf | errata ]

Journal Papers
[] R. G. McKilliam, D. Haley, A. Pollok, A. Grant, A. Beck, and Z. Zhou. Small data, low cost, anywhere on earth. IEEE Potentials, 38(2):18–20, Mar 2019. [ bib ]
[] D. Haley, A. Beck, A. Pollok, A. Grant, and R. G. McKilliam. Massive scale, long battery life, direct to orbit connectivity for the internet of things. Acta Astronautica, 151:318 -- 323, 2018. [ bib | doi | http ]
[] A. Akhlaq, R. G. McKilliam, R. Subramanian, and A. Pollok. Selecting wavelengths for least squares range estimation. IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 64(20):5205--5216, Oct 2016. [ bib | doi ]
[] A. Akhlaq, R. G. McKilliam, and R. Subramanian. Basis construction for range estimation by phase unwrapping. IEEE Signal Process. Letters, 22(11):2152-2156, Nov 2015. [ bib | doi | code ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, A. Grant, and I. V. L. Clarkson. Finding a closest point in a lattice of Voronoi's first kind. SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics, 28(3):1405-1422, 2014. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, I. V. L. Clarkson, and B. G. Quinn. Fast sparse period estimation. IEEE Signal Process. Letters, 22(1):62-66, Jan. 2015. [ doi | code ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, A. Pollok, B. Cowley, I. V. L. Clarkson, and B. G. Quinn. Carrier phase and amplitude estimation for phase shift keying using pilots and data. IEEE Trans. Signal Process., 61(15):3976-3989, Aug. 2014. [ bib | doi | arxiv | code ]
[] J. Kodithuwakku, N. Letzepis, R. G. McKilliam, and A. Grant. Decoder-assisted timing synchronization in multiuser CDMA systems. IEEE Trans. Comm., 62(5):2061-2071, Jun. 2014. [ bib | doi ]
[] A. Pollok and R. G. McKilliam. Modified Cramér-Rao bounds for continuous-phase modulated signals. IEEE Trans. Comm., 62(5):1681-1690, May 2014. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, B. G. Quinn, I. V. L. Clarkson, B. Moran, and B. N. Vellambi. Polynomial phase estimation by least squares phase unwrapping. IEEE Trans. Signal Process., 62(8):1962-1975, Apr. 2014. [ bib | doi | code ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, A. Pollok, and W. Cowley. Simultaneous symbol timing and frame synchronization for phase shift keying. IEEE Trans. Commun., 62(3):1114-1123, Mar. 2014. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. G. McKilliam and A. Pollok. On the Cramér-Rao bound for polynomial phase signals. Signal Processing, 95:27-31, Feb. 2014. [ bib | doi | code | errata ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, R. Subramanian, E. Viterbo, and I. V. L. Clarkson. On the error performance of the An lattices. IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 58(9):5941-5949, Sep. 2012. [ bib | doi | arxiv | code ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, B. G. Quinn, and I. V. L. Clarkson. Direction estimation by minimum squared arc length. IEEE Trans. Signal Process., 60(5):2115-2124, May 2012. [ bib | doi | code ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, B. G. Quinn, I. V. L. Clarkson, and B. Moran. Frequency estimation by phase unwrapping. IEEE Trans. Signal Process., 58(6):2953-2963, June 2010. [ bib | doi | code ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, W. D. Smith, and I. V. L. Clarkson. Linear-time nearest point algorithms for Coxeter lattices. IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 56(3):1015-1022, Mar. 2010. [ bib | doi | arxiv ]
[] R. G. McKilliam and I. V. L. Clarkson. Identifiability and aliasing in polynomial-phase signals. IEEE Trans. Signal Process., 57(11):4554-4557, Nov. 2009. [ bib | doi ]
Winner: Canon Information Systems Research Australia (CiSRA) prize 2009.
[] R. G. McKilliam, I. V. L. Clarkson, and B. G. Quinn. An algorithm to compute the nearest point in the lattice An*. IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, 54(9):4378-4381, Sep. 2008. [ bib | doi | arxiv ]

Conference Papers
[] M. D. McDonnell, R. G. McKilliam, and P. de Chazal. On the importance of pair-wise feature correlations for image classification. In International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), 2016. [ bib ]
[] B. G. Quinn, I. V. L. Clarkson, and R. G. McKilliam. On the periodogram estimators of periods from interleaved sparse, noisy timing data. IEEE Statistical Signal Processing Workshop, pages 232-235, Gold Coast, Australia, Jul. 2014. [ bib | doi ]
[] D. Haley, A. Grant, W. Cowley, L. Davis, I. Land, M. Lavenant, G. Lechner, R. McKilliam, and A. Pollok. Enabling technologies for a microsatellite-based global sensor network. In Small Satellites Systems and Services Symposium, Majorca, Spain, May 2014. [ bib ]
[] D. Haley, L. M. Davis, A. Pollok, Y. Chen, G. Lechner, M. Lavenant, S. A. Barbulescu, J. Buetefuer, W. G. Cowley, A. Grant, T. Kemp, I. Land, R. Luppino, R. G. McKilliam, and H. Soetiyono. Software defined radio based global sensor network architecture. In Wireless Innovation Forum Conference on Communications Technologies and Software Defined Radio, Mar. 2014. [ bib ]
Winner: Wireless Innovation Forum Technology of the year 2013 prize [ link ]
[] B. G. Quinn, I. V. L. Clarkson, and R. G. McKilliam. On the Periodogram Estimator of Period from Sparse, Noisy Timing Data. Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, pages 879-883, California, USA, Nov. 2013. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, A. Pollok, B. Cowley, I. V. L. Clarkson, and B. Quinn. Noncoherent least squares estimators of carrier phase and amplitude. IEEE Internat. Conf. Acoust. Spe. Signal Process., pages 4888-4892, Vancouver, Canada, May 2013. [ bib | doi ]
[] J. Kodithuwakku, N. Letzepis, A. Grant, and R. McKilliam. Decoder-aided synchronization for multiuser CDMA systems. In Proc. Australian Commun. Theory Workshop, pages 31-36, Adelaide, Australia, Jan. 2013. [ bib | doi ]
[] B. G. Quinn, I. V. L. Clarkson, and R. G. McKilliam. Estimating period from sparse, noisy timing data. In IEEE Statistical Signal Processing Workshop (SSP), pages 193-196, Ann Arbor, USA, Aug. 2012. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. G. McKilliam and A. Grant. Finding short vectors in a lattice of Voronoi's first kind. In IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory Proceedings (ISIT), pages 2157-2160, Boston, USA, July 2012. [ bib | doi | arxiv ]
[] J. Kodithuwakku, N. Letzepis, A. Grant, and R. McKilliam. Code-acquisition via the projection method for CDMA systems in high MAI channels. In Communications (ICC), 2012 IEEE International Conference on, pages 2575-2579, 2012. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, B. G. Quinn, I. V. L. Clarkson, and B. Moran. The asymptotic properties of polynomial phase estimation by least squares phase unwrapping. Proc. Internat. Conf. Acoust. Speech Signal Process., pages 3592-3595, May 2011. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, D. J. Ryan, I. V. L. Clarkson, and I. B. Collings. Block noncoherent detection of hexagonal QAM. in Proc. Australian Commun. Theory Workshop, pages 65-70, Feb. 2010. [ bib | doi | code ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, I. V. L. Clarkson, B. G. Quinn, and B. Moran. Polynomial-phase estimation, phase unwrapping and the nearest lattice point problem. Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems, and Computers, pages 493-495, Nov. 2009. [ bib | doi | pdf ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, I. V. L. Clarkson, D. J. Ryan, and I. B. Collings. Linear-time block noncoherent detection of PSK. Proc. Internat. Conf. Acoust. Speech Signal Process., pages 2465-2468, April 2009. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. G. McKilliam and I. V. L. Clarkson. Maximum-likelihood period estimation from sparse, noisy timing data. Proc. Internat. Conf. Acoust. Speech Signal Process., pages 3697-3700, March 2008. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, D. J. Ryan, I. V. L. Clarkson, and I. B. Collings. An improved algorithm for optimal noncoherent QAM detection. Proc. Austral. Comm. Theory Workshop, pages 64-68, Jan 2008. [ bib | doi | code ]
[] R. G. McKilliam, I. V. L. Clarkson, W. D. Smith and B. G. Quinn. A linear-time nearest point algorithm for the lattice An*. International Symposium on Information Theory and its Applications, Dec. 2008. [ bib | pdf ]
[] B. G. Quinn, R. G. McKilliam, and I. V. L. Clarkson. Maximizing the periodogram. IEEE GLOBECOM, pages 1-5, Dec. 2008. [ bib | doi ]
[] R. McKilliam and G. Wyeth. Fast and robust stereo object recognition for spheres. Proc. Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2006. [ bib | pdf ]

Invited Talks
Finding shortest and closest vectors in a lattice of Voronoi's first kind. 65th Annual Meeting of the Australian Mathematical Society, University of Newcastle, Australia, 2021. [ pdf ]
Finding shortest and closest vectors in a lattice of Voronoi's first kind. Workshop on interactions between number theory and wireless communication, University of York, United Kingdom, 2014. [ pdf ]
The error performance of the An lattices. International Symposium on the Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS), Melbourne University, Australia, 2012. [ pdf ]
The error performance of the An lattices. Australian Communications Theory Workshop (AusCTW), Victoria University, New Zealand, 2012. [ pdf ]
The lattice An* and applications to synchronisation. Australian Communications Theory Workshop (AusCTW), Melbourne University, Australia, 2011. [ pdf ]

Awards, scholarships, and prizes
Early Career Researcher of the Year, Division of ITEE, University of South Australia, 2014
Technology of the Year Award, Wireless Innovation Forum, 2013 [ link ]
Deans Commendation for Outstanding PhD thesis, University of Queensland, 2010
Canon Information Systems Research Australia (CiSRA) best student paper prize, 2009
Australian postgraduate award (APA), 2007-2010
CSIRO Research Scholarship, 2007
Maude Walker Postgraduate Scholarship, 2007

Software
Next to many of the papers listed above is a link named `code'. This links to a repository containing the latex file and the software used for running simulations and generating plots relevant to that paper. All of the software is released under the CRAPL and comes with no guarantee as to legibility, coding style or anything else. I used to recommend this blog. Unfortunately, it's now so controversial that its owner made it private!

Other Activities
Organising Committee, IEEE Internat. Conf. on Acoust., Sp. and Sig. Process. (ICASSP), Brisbane 2015
Local Finance Chair, IEEE Information Theory Workshop (ITW), Hobart 2014
Local Finance Chair, International Symposium on Information Theory and its Appl. (ISITA), Melbourne 2014
Technical Programme Chair, Australian Communications Theory Workshop (AusCTW), Adelaide 2013
Technical Programme Committee, Australian Communications Theory Workshop (AusCTW), Wellington 2012
Publications Co-Chair, Defense Applications of Signal Processing Workshop (DASP), Coolum 2011
Chair of the IEEE University of Queensland Student Branch 2009