Device Management

Improving QoE and QoS with TR-069: Active Monitoring Part 2

By Incognito on October, 18 2016

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Quality of Service (QoS) normally defines performance monitoring at the lower layers of the network, such as the physical network layer or even the transport layer of the OSI reference model.

Quality of Experience (QoE), on the other hand, is closely connected to the application layer and the user’s subjective perception of the quality a service is presented.

QoS parameters are objective parameters that reflect the delivered service quality. QoE, on the other hand, reflects the user’s perceived experience of the quality of the delivered service end-to-end and as such, it is a subjective measure. Improving QoE is an end-to-end process, meaning that the networks between source and destination can be seen as a black box. However, QoE is dependent on the QoS of the parts making up the black box.

Naturally, TR-069 based monitoring is closer related to QoS than QoE.

For packet-switched networks, both on layer 2 and 3, QoS parameters may include:

  • Frame or packet loss
  • Delay
  • Packet delay variations (PDV)
  • Out-of-order packets
  • Bitrate

The impact of each of these parameters on the application (and therefore on the subscriber’s individual QoE) differs depending on the application type. For instance, in real time streaming multimedia, QoS parameter irregularities can effectively be seen as packet loss. QoS-related parameters may have different effects on different applications.

DSL-specific or other measurements may include:

  • Link retrains
  • Signal-to-noise ratio
  • Various error counters
  • SNR margin
  • Maximum attainable data rate, line attenuation (per band)
  • Signal attenuation (per band)
  • Time-stamped events,
  • INP equivalent
  • Symbol interarrival time.

For Fiber, these measurements may include:

  • LOS
  • BER
  • Frame errors
  • Loss of synchronization
  • FEC
  • OSNR
  • Transmitted/received optical power
  • Transceiver parameters (e.g. temperature, supply voltage, bias current, Tx and Rx power)

LTE related parameters could be QCI, ARP, GBR, MBR, APN-AMBR, UE-AMBR, etc.

Please note that the above parameters are generic, and only useful if proper analysis is performed. Also, monitoring frequency will most likely vary by access technology. Lastly, it cannot be assumed that every device model within the network supports all of the parameters listed here, further analysis will be necessary.

Overall, improvements to quality of service and by extension, subscriber quality of experience, can only occur if careful measurement and active monitoring is taking place across the network. Discover how you can improve quality of experience with TR-069 by getting in touch with our team.

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