A measurement study on Skype voice and video calls in LTE networks on high speed rails

Li Li, Ke Xu, Dan Wang, Chunyi Peng, Kai Zheng, Haiyang Wang, Rashid Mijumbi, Xiangxiang Wang

Research output: Chapter in book / Conference proceedingConference article published in proceeding or bookAcademic researchpeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recent advances in high speed rails (HSRs), coupled with user demands for communication on the move, are propelling the need for acceptable quality of communication services in high speed mobility scenarios. This calls for an evaluation of how well popular voice/video call applications, such as Skype, can perform in such scenarios. This paper presents the first comprehensive measurement study on Skype voice/video calls in LTE networks on HSRs with a peak speed of 310 km/h in China. We collected 50 GB of performance data, covering a total HSR distance of 39,900 km. We study various objective performance metrics (such as RTT, sending rate, call drop rate, etc.), as well as subjective metrics such as quality of experience of the calls. We also evaluate the efficiency of Skype's algorithms regarding the level of utilization of network resources. We observed that the quality of Skype calls degrades significantly on HSRs. Moreover, it was discovered that Skype significantly under-utilizes the network resources, such as available bandwidth. We discovered that the root of these inefficiencies is the poor adaptability of Skype in many aspects, including overlay routing, rate control, state update and call termination. These findings highlight the need to develop more adaptive voice/video call services for high speed mobility scenarios.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2017 IEEE/ACM 25th International Symposium on Quality of Service, IWQoS 2017
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781509019830
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jul 2017
Event25th IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Quality of Service, IWQoS 2017 - Vilanova i la Geltru, Spain
Duration: 14 Jun 201716 Jun 2017

Publication series

Name2017 IEEE/ACM 25th International Symposium on Quality of Service, IWQoS 2017

Conference

Conference25th IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Quality of Service, IWQoS 2017
Country/TerritorySpain
CityVilanova i la Geltru
Period14/06/1716/06/17

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
  • Communication

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