Advanced LLM-Enhanced Intent-Based 5G Network Management using Dynamic Semantic Routes

As the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) is becoming common in everyday applications, their ability to interpret natural language has increased significantly. An emerging application of AI is integration with network management and orchestration practices. An instance of this integration is LLM-enhanced intent-based networking, where network operators will control a network using natural language. This work presents the use of dynamic routes with a semantic router to identify an intent from a network operator's prompt and extract necessary details for intent fulfillment in intent-based 5G+ core networks. Furthermore, the performance of static route selection is assessed by evaluating multiple encoders and dynamic route detail extraction accuracy against a series of realistic operator prompts. The presented results show that static and dynamic routes are successful in detail extraction and schema formatting.

Free-Text Evaluation of LLMs for 5G Domain Knowledge and Fault Analysis using LLM-as-Judge

Real-world fault analysis in 5G and emerging 6G networks demands domain expertise to analyze free-text diagnostics, including root-cause explanations and recommended actions. LLMs have emerged as a promising approach to automating this, yet whether lightweight, edge-deployable models are capable of performing in-depth free-text diagnostics remains an open question. While existing benchmarks rely on restrictive MCQs with fixed answer keys, this paper evaluates 5G domain understanding and fault analysis in a free-text generation format. Transitioning to this paradigm requires evaluating lightweight, edge-deployable AI models on open-ended diagnostic reasoning, alongside a dependable framework to validate these text outputs at scale. To address this we evaluate three lightweight LLMs, Claude-Haiku-4.5, GPT-5.4-Mini, and Gemini-3.1-Flash-Lite, on free-text 5G domain knowledge and fault-analysis tasks across three benchmarks, TeleQNA ORAN FT, 5G-Faults FT, and TeleInter FT. Three independent frontier judges score outputs, and pairwise inter-judge agreement is measured as an empirical test of the LLM-as-Judge methodology. All three models reach at least 90% accuracy on fault diagnosis, while zero-shot recall of 3GPP and O-RAN specifications remains the critical gap, with all models scoring below 60%. Mean inter-judge agreement is at least 0.90 across all runs, indicating that multi-judge LLM scoring produces consistent, reproducible grades for open-ended telecom responses. Operationally, Gemini-3.1-Flash-Lite offers the best efficiency trade-off, combining competitive accuracy with the lowest inference cost and latency, making it the most suitable candidate for production telecom deployments.

Congruence Decomposition with Neural Block Solvers for Large-Scale PCI Assignment

Physical Cell Identity (PCI) assignment is essential for interference management in dense 5G networks. As cellular networks scale, PCI reuse becomes unavoidable, which may cause collisions, confusions, and multiple forms of modular interference. Jointly mitigating these effects gives rise to a large-scale, multi-objective combinatorial optimization problem that is difficult to solve efficiently at practical network scales. In this work, we propose a congruence decomposition framework with neural block solvers for large-scale PCI assignment. The proposed decomposition exploits the arithmetic structure of PCI values to decouple multiple modular interference objectives into a collection of blockwise Min-$k$-Partition subproblems, followed by a graph coloring procedure to resolve PCI conflicts. For the resulting NP-hard Min-$k$-Partition subproblems, we develop neural block solvers by parameterizing their relaxed quadratic formulations with graph neural networks, enabling efficient optimization at large scales. Discrete assignments are recovered through conditional expectation rounding with theoretical guarantees. Experiments on synthetic cellular graphs and real-world 5G networks show that the proposed method consistently outperforms existing modular-interference-aware baselines in modular interference reduction, conflict elimination, and computational efficiency.

TelcoAgent: A Scalable 5G Multi-KPM Forecasting With 3GPP-Grounded Explainability

Key Performance Measurement (KPM) forecasting is essential for proactive network management of 5G and next-generation telecom networks. However, existing machine learning (ML) approaches face significant limitations in scalability and explainability, restricting their effectiveness in real-world deployments. We propose TelcoAgent, a foundation model-based framework that enables accurate, scalable, and explainable forecasting of multiple KPMs across diverse network cells without the need for site-specific training. Specifically, the framework comprises three key components: (i) an automated three-agent pipeline that constructs a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) knowledge graph directly from specification documents, (ii) a scalable, time-series foundation model (TSFM)-based prediction pipeline to deliver accurate, zero-shot forecasting, and finally (iii) a reasoning and explanation pipeline that provides actionable, domain-grounded diagnostics. Evaluated using a 3-month, real-world, city-scale 5G KPM dataset from a U.S.-based network operator, TelcoAgent demonstrates high forecasting accuracy for all 7 considered KPMs per cell across 200 cells, while delivering explainable insights and actionable instructions to address network degradations.

AUGUSTE: Online-Learning dApp for Predictive URLLC Scheduling

Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) was one of the main motivations behind 5G, with 3GPP advertising 1-10 ms latency targets for applications such as industrial automation, Vehicle-To-Everything (V2X), tactical edge networking, and unmanned-system control. Years on, real 5G Time Division Duplexing (TDD) networks still show median Uplink (UL) round-trip times in the 50-70 ms range, largely because of the Scheduling Request (SR) procedure that a User Equipment (UE) must complete before transmitting UL data. Existing remedies, primarily Configured Grant (CG) scheduling, only eliminate this overhead for strictly periodic traffic and require cross-layer synchronization, which has limited their adoption. We propose AUGUSTE (Anticipatory Uplink Grants for URLLC via Self-Adapting Temporal Estimation), a learning-based Medium Access Control (MAC) scheduling framework that embeds online Machine Learning (ML) models in the UL scheduler to predict packet arrivals and proactively allocate resources before an SR is issued. An adaptive state machine alternates between a learning phase that collects unbiased arrival statistics and a confident phase that exploits the learned predictions to schedule only when traffic is expected. We evaluate AUGUSTE on a real 5G testbed running OpenAirInterface across three URLLC traffic patterns (request-response, ML edge inference, and periodic autonomous reporting), and show that it operates at the best achievable point on the latency-overhead trade-off: it matches always-on scheduling's median Round Trip Time (RTT) (around 10 ms, halving the 20 ms SR-based baseline) at roughly one-tenth its resource cost (7-10 percent overhead).