How does 5G work? | A RARE look inside the 5G testbed facility @IITM | BP2B Labcast Ep 1

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

November 28, 2025

Duration

17m

Channel

Best Place To Build

Watch on YouTube

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📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

India’s 5G revolution is unfolding faster than ever, and the IIT Madras 5G Test Bed is at the centre of it. In this special Labcast series, we take you inside various such labs at the forefront of cutting-edge research. This first episode leads us right to the place where India’s first 5G phone call was made—the 5G Testbed Facility at IIT Madras. From advanced signal processing algorithms and massive MIMO setups to cutting-edge 5G transmission experiments, this lab does it all. Check out their official website here: http://www.5gtbiitm.in/ As we walk through the antennas, servers, SDRs, and network-monitoring tools, Jeeva Keshav S (we sincerely apologise for the typing error in the video), one of the researchers behind the testbed, explains how India is building indigenous telecom capability and why IIT Madras has become a critical hub for scalable, secure wireless innovation. Whether you're a tech enthusiast, an engineering student, or someone curious about how India’s 5G backbone actually works, this episode is your inside pass to the future of communication. What You’ll Learn:

• The engineering behind India’s first 5G phone call and large-scale 5G transmission
• Inside the antenna arrays, SDRs, and signal processing workflows used in 5G
• How IIT Madras became a national hub for wireless technology innovation
• The real challenges of building and testing 5G systems at scale
• How India is strengthening telecom R&D and next-gen network capability

Chapters: 00:23 Welcome to the Best Place to Build - Labcast 00:50 Introduction to the 5G testbed at IIT Madras 01:37 Infrastructure involved in building the indigenous 5G 05:30 Why is 5G so much faster than 4G? 08:25 Glimpse at the 5G core network system 09:40 Story of India’s 1st official 5G phone call 12:34 The teams behind the 5G innovation 14:30 How is AI/ML used in the 5G testbed facility? 17:00 Closing thoughts

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Best Place To Build, How does 5G work? | A RARE look inside the 5G testbed facility @IITM | BP2B Labcast Ep 1 explores inside IIT Madras’ indigenous 5G testbed: radios, core, future The video breaks down the 5G signal chain from phone-to-antenna (radio unit) to baseband processing and into a software-based 5G core that authenticates users, manages mobility, and routes traffic.

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