The Making of 5G: Building an End-to-End 5G-Enabled System

This article documents one of the world's first standards-compliant pre-commercial end-to-end fifth generation (5G) systems. Focus is on a standardized 5G architecture that includes the underlying 3GPP components but also the ETSI network functions virtualization management and orchestration capabilities. The truly innovative character of 5G enabling fundamental changes to architecture and implementation is discussed, as well as details of monitoring and orchestration approaches that are deemed instrumental in unlocking the full potential of 5G. Finally, it is important to us to share the lessons learned, which we hope are of use to industry and academia alike when building, deploying, and testing emerging 5G systems.