Small cell based 5G test network (5GTN)

5G systems research is getting close to the stage that practical implementations need to be tested in real scenarios. However, the technical requirements for 5G as very stringent and no general purpose equipment exists for testing 5G radio performance in reality yet. One future direction is, however, quite obvious: small cell deployments will play a major role in 5G systems. This paper discusses an initiative started in Oulu, Finland early 2015 to investigate this matter in practice. A special emphasis is put to test novel small cell enabled operator business models.