Delay and quality metrics in Voice over LTE (VoLTE) networks: An end-terminal perspective

In this paper we evaluate metrics specified in 3GPP to characterize trade-offs between delay and quality of Voice over LTE (VoLTE) mobile phones in various network conditions. We report test results on clock accuracy, terminal delay in uplink and downlink under error-free conditions, as well as delay and quality in the presence of packet losses and network jitter. We discuss how the underlying methodology intended for delay testing can be extended to evaluate de-jitter buffer performance using a black-box approach, and how to model VoLTE packet delay/loss characteristics in a realistic way.

[1]  Chandra S. Bontu,et al.  DRX mechanism for power saving in LTE , 2009, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[2]  Janne Peisa,et al.  IMS Multimedia Telephony over Cellular Systems , 2007 .

[3]  Robert G. Cole,et al.  Voice over IP performance monitoring , 2001, CCRV.

[4]  Ramon Sanchez-Iborra,et al.  Revisiting VoIP QoE assessment methods: are they suitable for VoLTE? , 2016, Netw. Protoc. Algorithms.

[5]  Peter Schelkens,et al.  Qualinet White Paper on Definitions of Quality of Experience , 2013 .

[6]  Chun-Ying Huang,et al.  An empirical evaluation of VoIP playout buffer dimensioning in Skype, Google talk, and MSN Messenger , 2009, NOSSDAV '09.

[7]  Alexander Raake,et al.  Speech Quality of VoIP - Assessment and Prediction , 2006 .

[8]  Guy Pujolle,et al.  Quality of Experience of VoIP Service: A Survey of Assessment Approaches and Open Issues , 2012, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[9]  Andrew Hines,et al.  An Analysis of the Impact of Playout Delay Adjustments Introduced by VoIP Jitter Buffers on Listening Speech Quality , 2015 .

[10]  Jean-Chrysostome Bolot,et al.  Characterizing End-to-End Packet Delay and Loss in the Internet , 1993, J. High Speed Networks.

[11]  Liam Murphy,et al.  An integrated NTP-RTCP solution to audio skew detection and compensation for VoIP applications , 2003, 2003 International Conference on Multimedia and Expo. ICME '03. Proceedings (Cat. No.03TH8698).

[12]  Vern Paxson,et al.  Measurements and analysis of end-to-end Internet dynamics , 1997 .

[13]  Philippe Gournay,et al.  Performance Analysis of a Decoder-Based Time Scaling Algorithm for Variable Jitter Buffering of Speech Over Packet Networks , 2006, 2006 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing Proceedings.

[14]  Wenyu Jiang,et al.  QoS evaluation of VoIP end-points , 2003, IEEE International Conference on Communications, 2003. ICC '03..