The VoLTE User Experience

Better or Worse?
 Outline

VoLTE is The VoLTE Making

Quantify

Solve
Challenge

Different User VoLTE

Experience Better
(not Worse)

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 Facts Trends
Q1 2013: 6.4 billion mobile
subscribers, with smartphones Highly competitive market,
comprising 50% of new mobile ARPU no longer increasing
device sales

Voice and SMS represent HD Voice is one way to seek

approximately 70% of all global competitive advantage
wireless revenues (73 networks so far)

Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) Voice and other services

revenues estimated to reach $2 moving to more efficient all-IP
billion by 2016 LTE networks

• Ericsson Mobility Report – On the Pulse of the Networked Society – June 2013
Sources
• Global Mobile Suppliers Association – Mobile HD Voice: Global Update Report – June 4th, 2013
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 VoLTE: Better or Worse?
• How can I compare the VoLTE voice experience offered
by different suppliers and technology options?
• How can I know that new infrastructure will deliver
high-quality VoLTE services, before it goes live?
• How can I ensure that my devices offer the VoLTE voice
experience my customers expect?
• How can I ensure that my network offers the VoLTE
voice experience my customer expect?
• How does the VoLTE Voice experience on my network
and devices compare to my competitors?
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 The VoLTE User Experience: Better or Worse?

VOLTE IS DIFFERENT

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 Legacy Voice Services Depend on Robustness of Layers 1-3

Application Application
Voice Service
Applications
Presentation Presentation

Session SIP, RTP, RTCP Session

Transport TCP, UDP, SCTP Transport

Network IP, RRC, NAS Network

Data Link MAC, RLC, PDCP Data Link

Physical OFDM, WCDMA, etc. Physical

Mobile Device 2G/3G Dedicated Voice Network

Bearers – Layer 1-3

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 4G Voice Services Depend on Robustness at All Layers

Application Application
Voice Service
Applications
Presentation Presentation

Session SIP, RTP, RTCP Session

Transport TCP, UDP, SCTP Transport

Network IP, RRC, NAS Network

Data Link MAC, RLC, PDCP Data Link

Physical OFDM, WCDMA, etc. Physical

Mobile Device 4G Dedicated Data Network

Bearers – Layer 1-7

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 Key Enablers of VoLTE Fall Into Four Categories

QoS RAN IMS Codec

Dedicated vs. Semi-persistent Session Initiation HD Voice
Non-Dedicated scheduling Protocol (SIP) (Wideband AMR)
Bearers resource
allocation
Quality of Service Transmission Policy and
Class Identifier Time Interval Charging Rules
(QCI) (TTI) Bundling Function (PCRF)
Dynamic Robust Header Real-time
scheduler in Compression Transport
eNodeB (RoHC) Protocol (RTP)
Real-time
Streaming
Protocol (RTSP)

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 QoS Enables VoLTE Packets to be Prioritized

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 QCI Sets Specific Packet Loss & Delay Targets

 Quality of Service (QoS) Class Identifier indicates max delay &

packet error rates for each LTE bearer
 Various network functions rely on the QCI to make prioritization
& resource allocation decisions

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 eNB Dynamic Scheduler Grants Resources

eNB scheduler dynamically

allocates resource blocks
(RBs) across all users.

QoS delay budgets are a key

factor in allocations

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 Semi-Persistent Resource Allocation for VoLTE

 Semi-persistent scheduling reduces the signaling overhead for RB

allocation by granting periodic use of a set of RBs
 VoLTE sends short packets on a regular basis: SPS ensures
resources are available which match the periodicity of VoLTE

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 Link Adaptation is Key to Packet Loss

Link adaptation manages the packet 16QAM Signal Constellation

(4 bits per symbol)
loss rate by adjusting the rate at which
bits are transmitted up or down based
on radio conditions (SNR).
More Bits/s & Higher SNR

64QAM Signal Constellation

(6 bits per symbol)

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 HARQ & TTI Bundling Impact Packet Loss &
Delay
HARQ Reduces Packet Loss / Increases Delay (Jitter)

TTI Bundling Reduces HARQ Latency

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 IP Multimedia Subsystem

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Session

Bit rate
Packet size
Packet transport frequency
RTP payload
Bandwidth adaptation

Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)

Policy rules (bandwidth, quality class, IP packet filters)

PDN Gateway (P-GW)

Interpret rules and establish EPC dedicated bearers for
voice

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 HD Voice (WB-AMR Codec)

Type of Channel Channel Bandwidth Type of Service

Narrowband 50Hz – 3.8KHz Narrowband Voice

Wideband 50Hz – 7.5KHz HD Voice (including VoLTE)

Super-wideband 20Hz – 14KHz HD Voice (including VoLTE)

Channel bandwidths for different voice services

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 The VoLTE User Experience: Better or Worse?

THE VOLTE USER EXPERIENCE

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 What to Measure?

End User Experience Key Performance

Indicators (KPIs)
Ability to make and maintain calls Call Initiation Rate (%), Call
Drop Rate (%)

Time it takes for a phone to start ringing Call Setup Time (s)

Speech quality during a call Mean Opinion Score (MOS)

Mouth-to-ear delay or latency variations Mouth-to-ear delay (s),

during a call Latency, jitter

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 Packet Loss & Delay Drive QoE for VoLTE

VoLTE packet loss directly impacts

speech quality

Packet loss rate of < 1%

results in good speech
quality on avg.

Speech Quality vs. Frame Error Rate

Source: “Validating voice over LTE end-to-end”, Ericsson Review, January 2012.

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 Packet Loss & Delay Drive QoE for VoLTE
VoLTE packet delay impacts mouth-
to-ear delay, and packet delay
variability (jitter) impacts both
speech quality & mouth-to-ear delay

Speech Quality
ITU recommended end-
vs. Mouth to
to-end mouth-to-ear
Ear Delay delay is <200 ms

Source: “Validating voice over LTE end-to-end”, Ericsson Review, January 2012.

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 UE-Specific Delays Dominate Mouth-to-Ear Delay

Packet delay is
strongly
impacted by LTE
scheduling &
HARQ:
• Average E2E
transport delay
• Jitter buffer
delay

Breakdown of mouth-to-ear delay for VoLTE lab

and field tests performed by Ericsson

Source: “Validating voice over LTE end-to-end”, Ericsson Review, January 2012.

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 Speech Quality Impacted by Codec

MOS Distribution Both Speech Paths

50%
NB/Standard Mode
45% AMR-WB enabled
Percentage of Values in MOS Range

40%

35%

30%

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%

MOS Range

Source: Spirent Testing on Live Network with Nomad HD

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 Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) vs.
Perceptual Objective Listening Quality Analysis (POLQA)

POLQA has more robust quality PESQ POLQA

predictions for … (ITU-T P.862) (ITU-T P.863)
Codecs AMR AMR
 Cross-technology quality EFR AMR-WB
EFR
benchmarking (e.g., GSM vs. CDMA)
EVRC
EVRC-B
 Noise reduction and voice quality EVRC-WB
enhancement Reference 8 kHz 8 kHz
Speech 48 kHz
 Time-scaling, unified Material
(sampling
communication and VoIP frequency)
Applications POTS HD Voice
 Filtering and spectral shaping VoIP Voice
3G Enhancement
 Recordings made at an ear Devices
simulator

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 POLQA MOS Score Comparison for VoLTE
Devices
Downlink MOS Uplink MOS

Device Device Device Device Device Device Device Device Device

A B C D A B C D

Average 3.09 3.34 3.16 3.62 3.46 3.81 3.44 3.31

Standard 0.42 0.08 0.39 0.29 0.22 0.03 0.27 0.12

Deviation

Maximum 3.56 3.45 3.43 3.84 3.65 3.85 3.83 3.45

Score
% MOS less 33% 0% 17% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
than 3.0

Source: Spirent Testing on Live Network with Nomad HD

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 Call Initiation and Setup Time Comparison for
VoLTE Devices

Source: Spirent Testing on Live Network with Nomad HD

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 Call Drop Comparison for VoLTE Devices

Source: Spirent Testing on Live Network with Nomad HD

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 The VoLTE User Experience: Better or Worse?

MAKING VOLTE BETTER

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 Quantify, Ensure, Measure, Verify,
Troubleshoot, Benchmark …

Test

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Common VoLTE Test Challenges
 Measuring device performance across multiple OS’s
and technologies

 Testing in both live and simulated network

environments

 Evaluating multiple devices simultaneously

 Managing extensive testing projects from a

centralized location

 Measuring how a device’s performance will

impact subscribers

 Comparing VoLTE voice quality to circuit switched voice: Is it as good

or better?

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 Characteristics of Ideal Test Strategy

Metrics that focus on what the end-users experience (including speech

quality, the ability to make and maintain calls, and mouth-to-ear latency)

Use the same voice service measurement systems in the field and in the
lab

Measurement systems that can test any device, on any network,

anywhere in the world and still provide one central location for
results collection and analysis

Lab test solutions that provide simple interfaces for LTE and VoLTE
configuration while also enabling fast creation of automated VoLTE tests

Coverage of relevant compliance tests originating from operators and

standards organizations

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 Test Early and Often, in Lab & Live

$ $$ $$$

Lab (Emulated Network) Live

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 Spirent Believes in “Better”
How can we help you improve VoLTE
quality and time-to-market?

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 For More Information

Spirent’s VoLTE and HD Voice web page:

• Application Notes for CS8 and Nomad HD
Voice Quality testing

• Video demonstrations

http://www.spirent.com/go/VoLTE

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