Akshat Jiwan Sharma

I only did an online course on Materials science not a full 4 year graduation programme so I may not be the best person to answer this question.  But I'd suggest do some research on job prospects in your area before enrolling. MS is more of a generalist subject that draws a lot from other disciplines. As a graduate you'll definitely find opportunities but not necessarily in the field of your study.  You may need to specialise in some domain later on.  Discovering & working on new materials is a lot of fun but their adoption is really slow. Be prepared to spend a lot of time on research in a lab.  If you really have a passion for materials then go for it and figure out a path later.  Personally I love materials science. It feels more real to me than other science and engineering domains. I love learning about new materials,their properties & their applications. I think it's a good skill to have but may not be the best from the point of view of landing a j...

I’m by no means an expert on the industry but I have a few observations that I would like to share with you. I think the biggest problem being faced by the telecom industry is commoditization of their core service. The way things stand people can’t really tell the difference between the operators. The only thing that makes them choose one over the other is the price. It does not really help that most of the work done by the industry is in the background that people don’t really notice much. Coverage is very important for a network, but a normal consumer does not really care about how many miles of fiber optic cables have been laid down. Or for that matter how many new towers have been set up (unless it is for protesting against the harmful effects of radiation, at which point they become surprisingly observant) Another problem that I see is a lack of technological understanding. In the initial years, the telecom industry was the leader in technology and was directly responsible for man...

Telecommunications is an international industry and many of the companies have a global presence. Although I have no experience working in the sector I follow it closely as a technology enthusiast. Telecom companies, today, operate like land owners. A network provider only cares about the product they can supply to the end user. All of the other things that go into making the network functional are of little concern and can be handled by someone else. They are not directly involved in construction,operation or even management of the networks. In order to run their business most “efficiently” nearly all of the functions are outsourced. Although the logic behind this outsourcing is to reduce the prices as well as the risk it would involve to do everything in house, the effect is the opposite. In my opinion. Spectrum licensing is handled by the government. While I believe that licensing is important, auctions are hurting the industry. But on the flip side without auctions telecom companie...

  Any wireless device has antennas that serve as the communication endpoints. That is the antennas are responsible for transmitting and receiving data. When your phone is in the hotspot mode it acts as a base station. In other words it is in the transmission mode (Tx) for wifi. To be able to receive the signal at the time you're transmitting you need at least two wifi antennas. If your mobile has it you can do it. If it does not then you can't. One of the reasons I think phone and chip designers try to limit the number of antennas is that they consume quite a lot of power. You want to maximize the battery life and minimizing the number of operational antennas is one way to do it. As an OS android which is built on linux kernel has no limitation that prevents any device from transmitting at receiving at the same time. The limiting factor is the hardware.

  Although with fiber optic connectivity you should get better speed and data caps at the same price, let us assume, for the sake of the question, that you don't and try to see what benefits optical fiber can bring you. Fiber optic connectivity will maintain service level standards for decades. The technology is mature and so capable that we don't have machines that can process their highest speeds. Fiber optic cables once installed are not going to go anywhere. Advancements in modulation techniques can be applied on the same cable without replacing them. Unless people are careless with installations (like digging where they are installed) fiber optics are here to stay. Given that fiber optic technology is operational for decades once installed year on year the price of running such a network will decrease. Companies can pass on the savings to the consumers or bring more people online by investing the savings. Because the internet is highly reliant on network effects you'll...

  Wireless networking is one of those things that is easier to do in practice than it is to learn in theory. You will learn more by jumping in right ahead rather than poring through the books. But if you’re an absolute beginner you need to start somewhere. So I’ll give an overview of the practical aspects of wireless networks first and towards the end of my answer I’ll give suggestions from where you can learn the theory. All wireless networks have three basic components Antennas that send out wireless signals A hardware that provides input signal to the antennas which it sends out wirelessly An operating system that controls the hardware, which sends the input signals to antennas, which then sends it out wirelessly. Now if you look at something as basic as a wifi router you’ll note that it has Antennas (either external or on chip) A chip to which those antennas are connected An OS (that is accessible through the web admin panel) that controls the chip So as a start you should try ...

   My answer will be a bit roundabout so apologies in advance. It may seem off topic but it will provide background for the actual question. Also I'm not a material science expert and only have second hand knowledge of both ceramics and LCP. Signal strength is one of the most important qualities to consider when designing an antenna both transmitting and receiving. But it's not the only one. Other factors like Ease of construction, installation and maintenance Environment in which the antenna operates The function it has to perform are just as relevant. It is important to stress on the third point because of something called reciprocity principal of antennas It states that properties governing transmission and reception are the same for an antenna. If the antenna is a good transmitter for a particular situation, it is also a good receiver. If we look only at signal strength then nothing can beat parabolic antennas. They are so powerful that they can communicate with satellites...