Voice is still a critical mode of communication and high-definition voice, (also called wideband voice) is changing the way Wired and Wireless service providers deliver voice services. With increased compression, low latency, and wider audio spectrum (up to 7 KHz), HD voice service is now being widely adopted over Wireless, IP, and traditional FXO/FXS networks.
However, challenges in delivering HD Voice service includes, widespread availability of endpoints such as Handsets or Setup-Boxes supporting wideband codec, inter-operability across different networks, necessity for the wireless infrastructure to completely migrate from 3G overlay to IMS, and the wired infrastructure migration to next generation All-IP networks.
Hence, the end point test and measurement solutions, and core network infrastructure test capabilities are critical to widespread acceptance of HD Voice. Prominent carriers are already using GL's test and measurement solutions for evaluating their next generation HD Voice services.
GL's End-to-End QoS Test Systems measure quality of the HD voice with POLQA (the current standard for wideband voice in IP and Wireless networks) and other associated metrics. It is also capable of characterizing data usage and quality over Wireless and Wired networks. GL's Networks-In-Lab offers core-network infrastructure testing over Wireless and Wired networks, pre-deployment testing, and bulk call simulation and monitoring solutions. These HD Voice Testing Solutions are briefly discussed below.
E-to-E Tests of HD Voice over Wireless Devices (VoLTE, VoWiFi)
- The VQuad™ with Dual UTA HD can connect to any network or any Wireless end-equipment supporting HD (WB) audio.
- Supports call control, with ability to send and receive voice and perform voice quality testing using PESQ/POLQA metrics
- Network-Independent - supports 4G VoLTE, VoWiFi, VoFemto, 3G, and even future 5G
- Connects to VoLTE capable mobile handset using Bluetooth® Wideband feature
- Bluetooth® also performs RSSI, Battery level functions, and Network identification tests
- Mobile Phone call control – supports Bluetooth® 2.5mm Audio Headset Jack interfaces, and 3.5mm terminations for Smartphones (iPhone, Android)
- Control Mobile Radios with Push-to-Talk (PTT) functionality; Supports radio keying and send/record audio; connect to any mobile radio (DoD, Emergency Services, Government)
E-to-E Tests of HD Voice over Analog, Digital, and VoIP Devices
- Global support – can connect to any 2-wire or 4-wires interface anywhere with its support for wideband FXO interface, the VQuad™ with Dual UTA HD can connect to any FXS devices supporting HD (WB) audio such as ATAs, and Gateways.
- With its support for Balanced I/O and RJ22 interface, the VQuad™ with Dual UTA HD can connect to any 4-wire Handsets (VoIP, Digital, Analog)
- Supports call control, with ability to send and receive voice and perform voice quality testing using PESQ/POLQA metrics
- Wide Band (WB) and Narrow Band (NB) support
- Supports Call Progress tones, Loop current drop and Call ID
- Supports Flash hook and all supplementary services
E-to-E Tests of HD Voice over IP
- VQuad™ provides direct connection to the VoIP network with support for up to 12 SIP UA instances
- Supports call control, with ability to send and receive voice and perform voice quality testing using PESQ/POLQA metrics
- Supports almost all standard narrowband as well as wideband voice codecs such as G.722.1, G.722.2 (AMR-WB), SpeexWB, EVRC_C, and others
- Path confirmation using digits or frequency tones also available
- Supports all supplementary services
E-to-E Tests of HD Video over IP
- With its support for Video Conference Test capability, the VQuad™ with VAC connects to any devices supporting HD Video Conference feature such as IP Phones, Mobile Devices, and PCs
- Supports call control, with ability to send and receive conversational video files, and measure Video Quality (Relative MOS-V), Audio Quality (MOS-A), Audio-Video Quality (Relative MOS-AV)
- Video Codecs supported are MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MPEG, H.264, H.263+, H.263, H.261, VC1, JPEG
- Support for SD and HD Resolution
- Supported Audio Codecs: AMR-WB, AMR-NB, G.722, G.711, G.723, and iLBC
Bulk HD Voice and Video Call Generation over IP
MAPS™ SIP with HD RTP Traffic capability is provisioned as a bulk call generator to simulate high volume calls with voice or video traffic over IP network. It is available as special purpose rackmount network appliance that is capable of high call intensity (hundreds of calls/sec) and high volume of sustained calls (tens of thousands of simultaneous calls/platform).
The network appliance can generate hundreds of concurrent video calls with codecs such as H.263, H.264 and VP8, and real voice calls using any of the standard narrowband as well as wideband voice codecs such as G.722.1, G.722.2 (AMR-WB), SpeexWB, EVRC_C, and others.
HD Voice and Video Quality Analysis over IP (E-Model MOS)
PacketScan™ HD supports simultaneous capture and processing of up to 5000 Calls with duplex traffic at 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps. With support for almost all VoIP and Wireless protocols over IP transport layer, all voice and video calls over the network can be monitored non-intrusively, captured, decoded and measured for voice quality, delay, jitter, packet loss, and others for troubleshooting.
PacketScan™ HD QoS parameter include: E-model (G.107) based MOS/R-Factor scores, Media Delivery Index (Delay Factor: Media Loss Rate) for video calls.
Supports almost all industry standard narrowband as well as wideband voice codecs such as G.722.1, G.722.2 (AMR-WB), SpeexWB, EVRC_C, and video codecs such as H.263, H.264.