The first meeting of ITU-T Study Group 12 (Performance, QoS and QoE) in the 2013-2016 study period, convened by TSB Collective letter 1/12 of 18 January 2013, took place in Geneva, from 19 to 28 March 2013.
1 Mandate of Study Group 12
Study Group 12 (Performance, QoS and QoE) is Responsible for Recommendations on performance, quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for the full spectrum of terminals, networks and services ranging from speech over fixed circuit-based networks to multimedia applications over networks that are mobile and packet based. Included in this scope are the operational aspects of performance, QoS and QoE; the end-to-end quality aspects of interoperability; and the development of multimedia quality assessment methodologies, both subjective and objective.
Study Group 12 is the Lead study group on Lead study group on quality of service and quality of experience as well as on driver distraction and voice aspects of car communications.
2 Organization of the Study Group 12
At its first meeting, SG12 decided to keep the previous structure having three working parties. Question 1/12, 2/12, the Regional Group for Africa (SG12RG-AFR) and Quality of Service Development Group (QSDG) were allocated directly to the SG12 Plenary.
SG12 appointed the Chairman and Vice Chairman for each WPs, Rapporteurs for each Question, Liaison Rapporeurs and Editors.
The mandate of each working party and the related questions are as follows:
WP 1 - Terminals and multimedia subjective assessment
WP1/12 works on transmission characteristics of terminals for fixed circuit-switched, mobile and packet-switched (IP) networks and the related telephonometric methodologies, as well as analysis methods using complex measurement signals. Hands-free communication in vehicles is an important study item. Also addressed are methods, tools and test plans for the subjective assessment of speech, audio and audiovisual quality interactions.
Questions: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10/12
WP 2 - Objective models and tools for multimedia quality
It is the purpose of WP 2/12 "Objective models and tools for multimedia quality" to cover the end-to-end transmission performance of networks, terminals and their interactions, in relation to the perceived quality and its objective assessment as well as guidance and modelling in the field of transmission planning. This includes beside perceptual-based objective methods also parametric models and a framework for diagnostic functions.
Questions: 8, 9, 14, 15 and 16/12
WP 3 - Multimedia QoS and QoE
WP3/12 is responsible for conducting studies leading to new Recommendations related to multimedia Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) in emerging networks. This includes operational aspects of QoS, QoE, end to end interworking and traffic management, identification of KPIs and QoS metrics for different services, multimedia performance assessment methods and models, and fundamental performance criteria for packet-based networks.
Questions: 11, 12, 13 and 17/12.
3 Results
3.1 General
The meeting was attended by 114 people from 35 countries. The meeting received 79 Contributions and handled 184 TDs. There were 56 incoming Liaison statements and created 26 outgoing Liaison statements. Seven Recommendations were consented and five informative texts were agreed. The meeting had an experimental exhibition for demonstrations of implementations of SG12 Recommendations. Five exhibitors participated this time. A lot of interests were attracted. Some exhibitions were also used to complement presentations of Contributions and technical discussion.
3.2 Groups directly belong to Plenary
3.2.1 Q1/12
- Handled numerous incoming Liaison statements which were related to workprogramme and entire SG12 activities drafting replies as appropriate.
- Developed plans to progress the work on Bridging the Standardization Gap (BSG) issues.
- Examined the SG12 Workprogramme.
- FG CarCom was terminated. P.VSSR (ex. FG.VSSR) will be handled by Q4/12.
- FG Distraction was terminated. P.UIA will be handled by Q4/12 while G.SMA and G.V2A have been transferred to ITU-T SG16.
3.2.2 Q2/12
- Considered updating the “Handbook on QoS and network performance”.
3.2.3 Regional Group for Africa
- Appointed the management team members (the Chairman and three Vice Chairmen)
- Planned the next SG12 RG-AFR meeting and collocated workshop programme.
3.2.4 Quality of service development group (QSDG)
- Developed a temporary QSDG Workprogramme for 2013 and planned the next meeting to be held 16-20 September 2013 in Ghana.
3.3 Working Party 1/12
Recommendations:
Consented one Recommendation:
- Revised P.58 "Head and torso simulator for telephonometry"
Agreed on the following non-normative texts:
- New P.imp64 “Implementers’ guide for P.64 (Determination of sensitivity/frequency characteristics of local telephone systems)”
- Amendment 1 to P.85 (New Appendix I)
- Revised P.imp830 “Implementers’ guide for P.830 (Subjective performance assessment of telephone-band and wideband digital codecs)”
3.4 Working Party 2/12
Recommendations:
Consented three Recommendations:
- New P.863.1 “Application Guide for Recommendation ITU-T P.863”
- New P.1202.2 “Parametric non-intrusive bitstream assessment of video media streaming quality – higher resolution application area”
- Amendment 1 to P.1201.2 “Parametric non-intrusive assessment of audiovisual media streaming quality - higher resolution application area”
Agreed on the following non-normative texts:
- Amendment 1 to P.1201 “Parametric non-intrusive assessment of audiovisual media streaming quality: Addendum 1 (New Appendix II - Performance figures for the ITU-T P.1201.2 algorithm in the case of MPEG2-TS/UDP)”
- Amendment 1 to P.1202 “Parametric non-intrusive bitstream assessment of video media streaming quality: Amendment 1 (Amended Appendix I and new Appendices II and III)”
3.5 Working Party 3/12
Recommendations:
Consented three Recommendations:
- New Y.1545 (ex. Y.RMQoSInt) “Roadmap of Quality of Service of Interconnected Networks using Internet Protocol”
- New P.800.2 (ex. P.MOS) “Mean Opinion Score (MOS) Interpretation and Reporting”
- Revised G.1011 “Reference guide to Quality of Experience assessment methodologies”
Other results
- A very promising new work item was launched that will look into end-to-end performance aspects of VoLTE. It will include the identification of those of the existing Recommendations under SG12 which already can be applied to VoLTE as well as potential gaps where additional efforts of SG12 are needed.
Past Executive Summaries:
