1,291 research outputs found
QoE Modelling, Measurement and Prediction: A Review
In mobile computing systems, users can access network services anywhere and
anytime using mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones. These devices
connect to the Internet via network or telecommunications operators. Users
usually have some expectations about the services provided to them by different
operators. Users' expectations along with additional factors such as cognitive
and behavioural states, cost, and network quality of service (QoS) may
determine their quality of experience (QoE). If users are not satisfied with
their QoE, they may switch to different providers or may stop using a
particular application or service. Thus, QoE measurement and prediction
techniques may benefit users in availing personalized services from service
providers. On the other hand, it can help service providers to achieve lower
user-operator switchover. This paper presents a review of the state-the-art
research in the area of QoE modelling, measurement and prediction. In
particular, we investigate and discuss the strengths and shortcomings of
existing techniques. Finally, we present future research directions for
developing novel QoE measurement and prediction technique
Towards improving ViSQOL (Virtual Speech Quality Objective Listener) Using Machine Learning Techniques
Vast amounts of sound data are transmitted every second over digital networks. VoIP services and cellular networks transmit speech data in increasingly greater volumes. Objective sound quality models provide an essential function to measure the quality of this data in real-time. However, these models can suffer from a lack of accuracy with various degradations over networks. This research uses machine learning techniques to create one support vector regression and three neural network mapping models for use with ViSQOLAudio. Each of the mapping models (including ViSQOL and ViSQOLAudio) are tested against two separate speech datasets in order to comparatively study accuracy results. Despite the slight cost in positive linear correlation and slight increase in error rate, the study finds that a neural network mapping model with ViSQOLAudio provides the highest levels of accuracy in objective speech quality measurement. In some cases, the accuracy levels can be over double that of ViSQOL. The research demonstrates that ViSQOLAudio can be altered to provide an objective speech quality metric greater than that of ViSQOL
Audio Inpainting
(c) 2012 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works. Published version: IEEE Transactions on Audio, Speech and Language Processing 20(3): 922-932, Mar 2012. DOI: 10.1090/TASL.2011.2168211
Analysis of Problem Tokens to Rank Factors Impacting Quality in VoIP Applications
User-perceived quality-of-experience (QoE) in internet telephony systems is
commonly evaluated using subjective ratings computed as a Mean Opinion Score
(MOS). In such systems, while user MOS can be tracked on an ongoing basis, it
does not give insight into which factors of a call induced any perceived
degradation in QoE -- it does not tell us what caused a user to have a
sub-optimal experience. For effective planning of product improvements, we are
interested in understanding the impact of each of these degrading factors,
allowing the estimation of the return (i.e., the improvement in user QoE) for a
given investment. To obtain such insights, we advocate the use of an
end-of-call "problem token questionnaire" (PTQ) which probes the user about
common call quality issues (e.g., distorted audio or frozen video) which they
may have experienced. In this paper, we show the efficacy of this questionnaire
using data gathered from over 700,000 end-of-call surveys gathered from Skype
(a large commercial VoIP application). We present a method to rank call quality
and reliability issues and address the challenge of isolating independent
factors impacting the QoE. Finally, we present representative examples of how
these problem tokens have proven to be useful in practice
Final report on the evaluation of RRM/CRRM algorithms
Deliverable public del projecte EVERESTThis deliverable provides a definition and a complete evaluation of the RRM/CRRM algorithms selected in D11 and D15, and evolved and refined on an iterative process. The evaluation will be carried out by means of simulations using the simulators provided at D07, and D14.Preprin
Parallel task in Subjective Audio Quality and Speech Intelligibility Assessments
Tato disertaÄŤnĂ práce se zabĂ˝vá subjektivnĂm testovánĂm jak kvality Ĺ™eÄŤi, tak i srozumitelnosti Ĺ™eÄŤi, prozkoumává existujĂcĂ metody, urÄŤuje jejich základnĂ principy a podstaty a porovnává jejich vĂ˝hody a nevĂ˝hody. Práce takĂ© porovnává testy z hlediska rĹŻznĂ˝ch parametrĹŻ a poskytuje modernĂ Ĺ™ešenĂ pro jiĹľ existujĂcĂ metody testovánĂ. Prvnà část práce se zabĂ˝vá opakovatelnostĂ subjektivnĂch testovánĂ provedenĂ˝ch v ideálnĂch laboratornĂch podmĂnkách. TakovĂ© Ăşlohy opakovatelnosti se provádĂ pouĹľitĂm PearsonovĂ© korelace, porovnánĂ po párech a jinĂ˝mi matematickĂ˝mi analĂ˝zami. Tyto Ăşlohy dokazujĂ správnost postupĹŻ provedenĂ˝ch subjektivnĂch testĹŻ. Z tohoto dĹŻvodu byly provedeny ÄŤtyĹ™i subjektivnĂ testy kvality Ĺ™eÄŤi ve tĹ™ech rĹŻznĂ˝ch laboratoĹ™Ăch. ZĂskanĂ© vĂ˝sledky potvrzujĂ, Ĺľe provedenĂ© testy byly vysoce opakovatelnĂ© a testovacĂ poĹľadavky byly striktnÄ› dodrĹľeny. Dále byl proveden vĂ˝zkum pro ověřenĂ vĂ˝znamnosti subjektivnĂch testovánĂ kvality Ĺ™eÄŤi a srozumitelnosti Ĺ™eÄŤi v komunikaÄŤnĂch systĂ©mech. Za tĂmto účelem bylo analyzováno vĂce neĹľ 16 miliĂłnĹŻ záznamĹŻ ĹľivĂ˝ch hovorĹŻ pĹ™es VoIP telekomunikaÄŤnĂ sĂtÄ›. VĂ˝sledky potvrdily základnĂ pĹ™edpoklad, Ĺľe lepšà uĹľivatelská zkušenost pĹŻsobĂ delšà trvánĂ hovorĹŻ. KromÄ› dosaĹľenĂ˝ch hlavnĂch vĂ˝sledkĹŻ však byly uÄŤinÄ›ny dalšà dĹŻleĹľitĂ© závÄ›ry. DalšĂm krokem disertaÄŤnĂ práce bylo prozkoumat techniku paralelnĂch zátěžĂ, existujĂcĂ pĹ™Ăstupy a jejich vĂ˝hody a nevĂ˝hody. Ukázalo se, Ĺľe vÄ›tšina paralelnĂch zátěžà pouĹľĂvanĂ˝ch v testech byla buÄŹ fyzicky, nebo mentálnÄ› orientovaná. JelikoĹľ subjekty ve vÄ›tšinÄ› pĹ™ĂpadĹŻ nejsou stejnÄ› fyzicky nebo mentálnÄ› zdatnĂ, jejich vĂ˝kony bÄ›hem ĂşkolĹŻ nejsou stejnĂ©, takĹľe vĂ˝sledky nelze správnÄ› porovnat. V tĂ©to disertaÄŤnĂ práci je navrĹľen novĂ˝ pĹ™Ăstup, kdy jsou podmĂnky pro všechny subjekty stejnĂ©. Tento pĹ™Ăstup pĹ™edstavuje celou Ĺ™adu ĂşkolĹŻ, kterĂ© zahrnujĂ kombinaci mentálnĂch a fyzickĂ˝ch zátěžà (simulátor laserovĂ© stĹ™elby, simulátor Ĺ™ĂzenĂ auta, tĹ™ĂdÄ›nĂ pĹ™edmÄ›tĹŻ apod.). Tyto metody byly pouĹľity v nÄ›kolika subjektivnĂch testech kvality Ĺ™eÄŤi a srozumitelnosti Ĺ™eÄŤi. ZávÄ›ry naznaÄŤujĂ, Ĺľe testy s paralelnĂmi zátěžà majĂ realistiÄŤtÄ›jšà vĂ˝sledky neĹľ ty, kterĂ© jsou provádÄ›ny v laboratornĂch podmĂnkách. Na základÄ› vĂ˝zkumu, zkušenostĂ a dosaĹľenĂ˝ch vĂ˝sledkĹŻ byl EvropskĂ©mu institutu pro normalizaci v telekomunikacĂch pĹ™edloĹľen novĂ˝ standard s pĹ™ehledem, pĹ™Ăklady a doporuÄŤenĂmi pro zajištÄ›nĂ subjektivnĂch testovánĂ kvality Ĺ™eÄŤi a srozumitelnosti Ĺ™eÄŤi. Standard byl pĹ™ijat a publikován pod ÄŤĂslem ETSI TR 103 503.This thesis deals with the subjective testing of both speech quality and speech intelligibility, investigates the existing methods, record their main features, as well as advantages and disadvantages. The work also compares different tests in terms of various parameters and provides a modern solution for existing subjective testing methods. The first part of the research deals with the repeatability of subjective speech quality tests provided in perfect laboratory conditions. Such repeatability tasks are performed using Pearson correlations, pairwise comparison, and other mathematical analyses, and are meant to prove the correctness of procedures of provided subjective tests. For that reason, four subjective speech quality tests were provided in three different laboratories. The obtained results confirmed that the provided tests were highly repeatable, and the test requirements were strictly followed. Another research was done to verify the significance of speech quality and speech intelligibility tests in communication systems. To this end, more than 16 million live call records over VoIP telecommunications networks were analyzed. The results confirmed the primary assumption that better user experience brings longer call durations. However, alongside the main results, other valuable conclusions were made. The next step of the thesis was to investigate the parallel task technique, existing approaches, their advantages, and disadvantages. It turned out that the majority of parallel tasks used in tests were either physically or mentally oriented. As the subjects in most cases are not equally trained or intelligent, their performances during the tasks are not equal either, so the results could not be compared correctly. In this thesis, a novel approach is proposed where the conditions for all subjects are equal. The approach presents a variety of tasks, which include a mix of mental and physical tasks (laser-shooting simulator, car driving simulator, objects sorting, and others.). Afterward, the methods were used in several subjective speech quality and speech intelligibility tests. The results indicate that the tests with parallel tasks have more realistic values than the ones provided in laboratory conditions. Based on the research, experience, and achieved results, a new standard was submitted to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute with an overview, examples, and recommendations for providing subjective speech quality and speech intelligibility tests. The standard was accepted and published under the number ETSI TR 103 503
Predicting the Quality of Synthesized and Natural Speech Impaired by Packet Loss and Coding Using PESQ and P.563 Models
This paper investigates the impact of independent and dependent losses and coding on speech quality predictions
provided by PESQ (also known as ITU-T P.862) and P.563 models, when both naturally-produced and synthesized
speech are used. Two synthesized speech samples generated with two different Text-to-Speech systems
and one naturally-produced sample are investigated. In addition, we assess the variability of PESQ’s and P.563’s
predictions with respect to the type of speech used (naturally-produced or synthesized) and loss conditions as
well as their accuracy, by comparing the predictions with subjective assessments. The results show that there is
no difference between the impact of packet loss on naturally-produced speech and synthesized speech. On the
other hand, the impact of coding is different for the two types of stimuli. In addition, synthesized speech seems
to be insensitive to degradations provided by most of the codecs investigated here. The reasons for those findings
are particularly discussed. Finally, it is concluded that both models are capable of predicting the quality of transmitted
synthesized speech under the investigated conditions to a certain degree. As expected, PESQ achieves the
best performance over almost all of the investigated conditions
A methodology for obtaining More Realistic Cross-Layer QoS Measurements in mobile networks: A VoIP over LTE Use Case
Los servicios de voz han sido durante mucho tiempo la primera fuente de ingresos para los operadores mĂłviles. Incluso con el protagonismo creciente del tráfico de datos, los servicios de voz seguirán jugando un papel importante y no desaparecerán con la transiciĂłn a redes basadas en el protocolo IP. Por otra parte, hace años que los principales actores en la industria mĂłvil detectaron claramente que los usuarios no aceptarĂan una degradaciĂłn en la calidad de los servicios de voz. Es por esto que resulta crĂtico garantizar la experiencia de usuario (QoE) en la transiciĂłn a redes de nueva generaciĂłn basadas en conmutaciĂłn de paquetes.
El trabajo realizado durante esta tesis ha buscado analizar el comportamiento y las dependencias de los diferentes servicios de Voz sobre IP (VoIP), asĂ como identificar configuraciones Ăłptimas, mejoras potenciales y metodologĂas que permitan asegurar niveles de calidad aceptables al mismo tiempo que se trate de minimizar los costes.
La caracterizaciĂłn del rendimiento del tráfico de datos en redes mĂłviles desde el punto de vista de los usuarios finales es un proceso costoso que implica la monitorizaciĂłn y análisis de un amplio rango de protocolos y parámetros con complejas dependencias. Para abordar desde la raĂz este problema, se requiere realizar medidas que relacionen y correlen el comportamiento de las diferentes capas. La metodologĂa de caracterizaciĂłn propuesta en esta tesis proporciona la posibilidad de recoger informaciĂłn clave para la resoluciĂłn de problemas en las comunicaciones IP, relaciolándola con efectos asociados a la propagaciĂłn radio, como cambios de celda o pĂ©rdida de enlaces, o con carga de la red y limitaciones de recursos en zonas geográficas especĂficas.
Dicha metodologĂa se sustenta en la utilizaciĂłn de herramientas nativas de monitorizaciĂłn y registro de informaciĂłn en smartphones, y la aplicaciĂłn de cadenas de herramientas para la experimentaciĂłn extensiva tanto en redes reales y como en entornos de prueba controlados. Con los resultados proporcionados por esta serie de herramientas, tanto operadores mĂłviles y proveedores de servicio como desarrolladores mĂłviles podrĂan ganar acceso a informaciĂłn sobre la experiencia real del usuario y sobre cĂłmo mejorar la cobertura, optimizar los servicios y adaptar el funcionamiento de las aplicaciones y el uso de protocolos mĂłviles basados en IP en este contexto.
Las principales contribuciones de las herramientas y métodos introducidos en esta tesis son los siguientes:
- Una herramienta de monitorización multicapa para smartphones Android, llamada TestelDroid, que permite la captura de indicadores clave de rendimiento desde el propio equipo de usuario. Asimismo proporciona la capacidad de generar tráfico de forma activa y de verificar el estado de alcanzabilidad del terminal, realizando pruebas de conectividad.
- Una metodologĂa de post-procesado para correlar la informaciĂłn presente en las diferentes capas de las medidas realizadas. De igual forma, se proporciona la opciĂłn a los usuarios de acceder directamente a la informaciĂłn sobre el tráfico IP y las medidas radio y de aplicar metodologĂas propias para la obtenciĂłn de mĂ©tricas.
- Se ha realizado la aplicaciĂłn de la metodologĂa y de las herramientas usando como caso de uso el estudio y evaluaciĂłn del rendimiento de las comunicaciones basadas en IP a bordo de trenes de alta velocidad.
- Se ha contribuido a la creaciĂłn de un entorno de prueba realista y altamente configurable para la realizaciĂłn de experimentos avanzados sobre LTE.
- Se han detectado posibles sinergias en la utilización de instrumentación avanzada de I+D en el campo de las comunicaciones móviles, tanto para la enseñanza como para la investigación en un entorno universitario
- …