Latest Articles
A deep-dive from each part of the site — 5G, 6G, Open RAN, AI in telecom and interview prep.
What Is 5G? The System Behind the Label
Strip away the marketing and 5G is two specified systems — NR and the 5G Core — built by 3GPP against ITU-R's IMT-2020 requirements. What those requirements were, what shipped, and where the releases stand.
IMT-2030 Capabilities: Nine Enhanced, Six New
M.2160 read as the successor to M.2083: which of the IMT-2020 capabilities were carried forward and by how much, which six have no predecessor, and why none of the numbers mean anything until the requirements report binds them to a test environment.
What Is Open RAN? The Architecture, the Promise, and the Fine Print
Open RAN in plain terms: what operators are actually trying to achieve, what the architecture changes, and why 'open' does not mean plug-and-play.
Generative AI in Network Operations: Where It Helps and Where It Bites
Practical uses for LLMs in the NOC: triage, log summarisation, config generation and spec retrieval — plus the grounding, guardrails and failure modes that decide whether it works.
Open RAN Tutorial: From Architecture to Your First xApp
A complete hands-on path into Open RAN: the architecture and interfaces that matter, an acronym decoder, standing up a lab with open-source components, writing an xApp against E2SM-KPM, and adding A1 policy.
5G NR Waveforms: CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM, and When the Uplink Should Use Which
Why NR uses CP-OFDM everywhere but keeps DFT-s-OFDM as an uplink option, what PAPR really costs, and how the network chooses per UE.
5G
5G NR fundamentals through advanced RAN and core topics: architecture, protocols, scheduling, and more.
What Is 5G-Advanced? Releases 18 to 20 Without the Branding
5G-Advanced is a release name, not a generation: the same NR and 5G Core, extended from Release 18 with AI/ML, energy saving, new mobility and device classes. What each release carries and why it is 6G's proving ground.
MEC: What Multi-Access Edge Computing Actually Shortens
MEC moves the UPF and the application towards the RAN. It shortens transport, not the air interface — how 3GPP steers traffic to an edge host, what happens when the UE moves, and where deployments go wrong.
5G NR Architecture: Nodes, Interfaces and the Protocol Stack on One Page
The whole NG-RAN picture before the detail: the three domains, the interfaces between them, what each protocol layer is responsible for, and exactly where each one terminates once the gNB is split.
6G
Forward-looking research on 6G: AI-native networks, sensing, THz spectrum, digital twins, and semantic communication.
What Will Actually Change in 6G?
Most of the radio you already know survives the generation change. Five things do not — sensing, model lifecycle, upper mid-band planning, energy as a scheduled quantity, and satellite access inside the same system.
THz Communication: Why 6G Is Looking Past mmWave
What sub-THz and THz bands offer 6G, why molecular absorption and path loss make coverage brutal, the hardware problems that remain unsolved, and a realistic deployment timeline.
Semantic Communications: Sending Meaning Instead of Bits
What semantic communication actually proposes, where task-selective traffic reduction genuinely pays, and the metrics, robustness and interoperability problems still in the way.
Open RAN
Disaggregated RAN architecture, O-RAN interfaces, the RIC, and the open ecosystem reshaping radio networks.
Tutorials
Hands-on, step-by-step walkthroughs for configuring, measuring, and troubleshooting real network features.
Interview Preparation
Curated interview questions and study guides for landing your next 5G/6G/RAN engineering role.
5G NR Transmitter and Receiver Chain: Following the Bits From MAC to Antenna and Back
A block-by-block walk through the NR physical-layer transmit chain and its mirror-image receiver, explaining what each stage does and why it sits where it does.
5G NR Synchronisation Signals (PSS and SSS): How a Phone Finds a Cell From Nothing
PSS and SSS explained from the UE's point of view: what each signal gives the receiver, how the PCI is built from them, and why NR has 1008 cell identities.
5G NR SS/PBCH Blocks and Bursts: Beams, Timing and the 5 ms Window
How PSS, SSS and PBCH are packaged into one SSB, how multiple SSBs form a burst set for beam sweeping, and the Case A–E timing patterns.
Ask me to cover a new topic
There are 60 deep-dives here, but the list is nowhere near complete. If you are working on something in 5G, 6G or Open RAN that is not covered yet — or a section that needs more depth — tell me and I will put it on the queue.