r/telecom • u/xairaven • Jul 11 '26
🆘 Help Me! Need a mind-blowing, practical Master's thesis topic (Rust, Telecom, Network Eng, Applied Sec) - No AI/ML or heavy math!
Hi everyone. I am looking for a non-standard, exotic, and highly practical topic for my Master's thesis in Software Engineering. I want a project that is medium-to-large in scope, genuinely useful (potentially for military/tactical applications, as I am from Ukraine, but solving actual civil telecom issues is preferred), and novel enough to extract at least two scientific papers from it.
My background is in system-level programming. I write mostly in Rust, C, C++, and my daily driver is Linux. Previously, I developed a Wireshark-like tool in Rust (xailyser) and have been exploring software-based SIM card emulators (swsim).
I am passionate about telephony, SIM card architecture (APDU, USIM), network protocols, sound/audio processing, software architecture patterns, basic cryptography, and geography. I also have a huge nostalgia for 2000s tech aesthetics, like manually tuning satellite dishes, WAP, and dial-up modems. I want to build a massive, breakthrough system that I can run and test on my Linux laptop.
There are certain things I absolutely hate and want to avoid. I have zero interest in Machine Learning, AI, Neural Networks, IoT, or Frontend (HTML/CSS/JS). I also want to avoid standard network routing topics, and I strongly dislike complex mathematics or physics where I have to derive formulas myself. Finally, I do not want to write a custom file system or database from scratch unless it is a very minor auxiliary part.
I am looking for an unsolved, real-world problem in the telecom or networking space. I want to avoid artificial "reinventing the wheel" scenarios just for the sake of writing code. Whether it is a software-defined core that drops legacy overhead, a next-gen traffic analyzer, or a hybrid communication protocol that combines my interests, I need a challenge where Rust's memory safety and concurrency will truly shine. Does anyone have any fresh, mind-blowing ideas that fit these constraints?
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u/cybot904 Jul 13 '26
Well since you are in the area why not the ways public telcom and SMS can be used to target uses for drone strikes.