David Skellern - WiFi
Adjunct Professor David Skellern is a pioneering Australian electronic engineer and computer scientist whose contributions to wireless technology have had a profound impact on modern life. He is best known for his role in the development of Wi-Fi—wireless local area network (WLAN) technology that has become a fundamental part of how we connect and communicate today. In the 1990s, while serving as Professor and Chair of the Department of Electronics at Macquarie University in Sydney, Skellern worked closely with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and fellow engineer Dr. Neil Weste. Together, they focused on solving a key technical challenge: how to transmit high-speed data wirelessly in a reliable and efficient manner.
Their work culminated in the creation of a chipset that implemented the IEEE 802.11a standard—one of the earliest and most influential protocols in the Wi-Fi family. This breakthrough laid the foundation for much of the wireless communication infrastructure that now underpins daily life. At the time, transmitting large amounts of data wirelessly over radio frequencies with minimal interference and power consumption was considered a significant engineering hurdle. Skellern and his collaborators not only overcame this obstacle, but did so in a way that made the technology commercially viable.
In 1997, Skellern and Weste co-founded Radiata Communications to commercialise their invention. The company quickly drew international attention, developing and producing the first fully functioning chipsets based on the IEEE 802.11a standard. These chipsets demonstrated that high-speed wireless data transmission was not only possible but practical, setting the stage for the global adoption of Wi-Fi in consumer electronics, enterprise systems, and public infrastructure.
The significance of this innovation was underscored in 2001, when Radiata was acquired by global technology giant Cisco Systems for approximately USD $565 million. This acquisition allowed the technology to be integrated into mainstream networking equipment on a global scale, accelerating the spread of Wi-Fi into homes, offices, airports, cafés, and virtually every corner of modern society.
Although no longer a full-time academic, Skellern continues his association with Macquarie University as an Adjunct Professor, an honorary title that reflects his ongoing contributions to research and education. Over the years, he has also taken on leadership roles in Australia’s science and technology sectors, including as CEO of National ICT Australia (NICTA) and as Chair of various research organisations and startups.
The reach of Skellern’s work is extraordinary. In 2024 alone, an estimated five billion Wi-Fi chipsets were installed in a vast array of devices—smartphones, laptops, routers, televisions, industrial machines, home appliances, and cars. The fact that billions of people now depend on seamless wireless connectivity every day is a direct outcome of the innovation he helped pioneer. What began as a highly technical research problem has grown into one of the essential infrastructures of the 21st century. Professor David Skellern’s legacy is not just embedded in silicon; it is woven into the fabric of global communication.