Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.7
3.4
Journals
Future Internet
Special Issues
Quality of Experience (QoE) Management in Softwarized Network Environments
share announcement

Quality of Experience (QoE) Management in Softwarized Network Environments

A special issue of Future Internet (ISSN 1999-5903). This special issue belongs to the section "Smart System Infrastructure and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2022) | Viewed by 10948

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Eirini Liotou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Interests: Quality of Experience; mobile cellular networks; 5G; Software-Defined Networking; video streaming

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Quality of Experience (QoE) is the ultimate measure of user and customer experience in any type of service. In the current softwarized networks’ era, many stakeholders are involved in the service provisioning chain, making QoE management a challenging research topic. Mobile network operators, over-The-top service providers, infrastructure providers, or other parties, try to guarantee QoE to their customers, based on their viewpoint and on their potential means of influence within the service provisioning chain. The softwarization of networks via technologies such as software-defined networking (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV), as well as multi-access edge computing (MEC), bring new opportunities for managing the QoE of the end-users and for controlling the network in a QoE-centric way. In parallel, these new software-based network technologies enable the proliferation of resource-hungry services, such as virtual reality video streaming, 360-degree adaptive video streaming, online video gaming, as well as various other multisensory services.

The aim of this Special Issue is to collect the most recent studies focusing on QoE management in such softwarized network environments. Our goal is to bring together experts to share ideas, present novel methodologies, identify challenges, and define the future directions of QoE management in modern and future network environments. Moreover, our goal is to explore novel methods of QoE management that focus on the emergence of resource-hungry and content-rich service types.

Dr. Eirini Liotou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Future Internet is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • QoE management
  • Softwarized networks
  • Video streaming

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

23 pages, 11246 KiB  
Article
Cache-Enabled Adaptive Video Streaming: A QoE-Based Evaluation Study
by Eirini Liotou, Dionysis Xenakis, Vasiliki Georgara, Georgios Kourouniotis and Lazaros Merakos
Future Internet 2023, 15(7), 221; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi15070221 - 21 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1466
Abstract
Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) has prevailed as the dominant way of video transmission over the Internet. This technology is based on receiving small sequential video segments from a server. However, one challenge that has not been adequately examined is the obtainment [...] Read more.
Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) has prevailed as the dominant way of video transmission over the Internet. This technology is based on receiving small sequential video segments from a server. However, one challenge that has not been adequately examined is the obtainment of video segments in a way that serves both the needs of the network and the improvement in the Quality of Experience (QoE) of the users. One effective way to achieve this is to implement and study caching and DASH technologies together. This paper investigates this issue by simulating a network with multiple video servers and a video client. It then implements both the peer-to-many communications in the context of adaptive video streaming and the video server caching algorithm based on proposed criteria that improve the status of the network and/or the user. Specifically, we investigate the scenario of delivering DASH-based content with the help of an intermediate server, apart from a main server, to demonstrate possible caching benefits for different sizes of intermediate storage servers. Extensive experimentation using emulation reveals the interplay and delicate balance between caching and DASH, guiding such network design decisions. A general tendency found is that, as the available buffer size increases, the video playback quality increases to some extent. However, at the same time, this improvement is linked to the random cache selection algorithm. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quality of Experience (QoE) Management in Softwarized Network Environments)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 1036 KiB  
Article
Significance of Cross-Correlated QoS Configurations for Validating the Subjective and Objective QoE of Cloud Gaming Applications
by Nafi Ahmad, Abdul Wahab, John Schormans and Ali Adib Arnab
Future Internet 2023, 15(2), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi15020064 - 02 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1772
Abstract
In this paper, utilising real-internet traffic data, we modified a popular network emulator to better imitate real network traffic and studied its subjective and objective implications on QoE for cloud-gaming apps. Subjective QoE evaluation was then used to compare cross-correlated QoS metric with [...] Read more.
In this paper, utilising real-internet traffic data, we modified a popular network emulator to better imitate real network traffic and studied its subjective and objective implications on QoE for cloud-gaming apps. Subjective QoE evaluation was then used to compare cross-correlated QoS metric with the default non-correlated emulator setup. Human test subjects showed different correlated versus non-correlated QoS parameters affects regarding cloud gaming QoE. Game-QoE is influenced more by network degradation than video QoE. To validate our subjective QoE study, we analysed the experiment’s video objectively. We tested how well Full-Reference VQA measures subjective QoE. The correlation between FR QoE and subjective MOS was greater in non-correlated QoS than in correlated QoS conditions. We also found that correlated scenarios had more stuttering events compared to non-correlated scenarios, resulting in lower game QoE. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quality of Experience (QoE) Management in Softwarized Network Environments)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 784 KiB  
Article
Optimal Proactive Caching for Multi-View Streaming Mobile Augmented Reality
by Zhaohui Huang and Vasilis Friderikos
Future Internet 2022, 14(6), 166; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi14060166 - 30 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1842
Abstract
Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) applications demand significant communication, computing and caching resources to support an efficient amalgamation of augmented reality objects (AROs) with the physical world in multiple video view streams. In this paper, the MAR service is decomposed and anchored at different [...] Read more.
Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) applications demand significant communication, computing and caching resources to support an efficient amalgamation of augmented reality objects (AROs) with the physical world in multiple video view streams. In this paper, the MAR service is decomposed and anchored at different edge cloud locations to optimally explore the scarce edge cloud resources, especially during congestion episodes. In that way, the proposed scheme enables an efficient processing of popular view streams embedded with AROs. More specifically, in this paper, we explicitly utilize the notion of content popularity not only to synthetic objects but also to the video view streams. In this case, popular view streams are cached in a proactive manner, together with preferred/popular AROs, in selected edge caching locations to improve the overall user experience during different mobility events. To achieve that, a joint optimization problem considering mobility, service decomposition, and the balance between service delay and the preference of view streams and embedded AROs is proposed. To tackle the curse of dimensionality of the optimization problem, a nominal long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network is proposed, which is trained offline with optimal solutions and provides high-quality real-time decision making within a gap between 5.6% and 9.8% during inference. Evidence from a wide set of numerical investigations shows that the proposed set of schemes owns around 15% to 38% gains in delay and hence substantially outperforms nominal schemes, which are oblivious to user mobility and the inherent multi-modality and potential decomposition of the MAR services. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quality of Experience (QoE) Management in Softwarized Network Environments)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 2861 KiB  
Article
QoE Models for Adaptive Streaming: A Comprehensive Evaluation
by Duc Nguyen, Nam Pham Ngoc and Truong Cong Thang
Future Internet 2022, 14(5), 151; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi14050151 - 13 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2232
Abstract
Adaptive streaming has become a key technology for various multimedia services, such as online learning, mobile streaming, Internet TV, etc. However, because of throughput fluctuations, video quality may be dramatically varying during a streaming session. In addition, stalling events may occur when segments [...] Read more.
Adaptive streaming has become a key technology for various multimedia services, such as online learning, mobile streaming, Internet TV, etc. However, because of throughput fluctuations, video quality may be dramatically varying during a streaming session. In addition, stalling events may occur when segments do not reach the user device before their playback deadlines. It is well-known that quality variations and stalling events cause negative impacts on Quality of Experience (QoE). Therefore, a main challenge in adaptive streaming is how to evaluate the QoE of streaming sessions taking into account the influences of these factors. Thus far, many models have been proposed to tackle this issue. In addition, a lot of QoE databases have been publicly available. However, there have been no extensive evaluations of existing models using various databases. To fill this gap, in this study, we conduct an extensive evaluation of thirteen models on twelve databases with different characteristics of viewing devices, codecs, and session durations. Through experiment results, important findings are provided with regard to QoE prediction of streaming sessions. In addition, some suggestions on the effective employment of QoE models are presented. The findings and suggestions are expected to be useful for researchers and service providers to make QoE assessments and improvements of streaming solutions in adaptive streaming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quality of Experience (QoE) Management in Softwarized Network Environments)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1393 KiB  
Article
A Sign of Things to Come: Predicting the Perception of Above-the-Fold Time in Web Browsing
by Hamed Z. Jahromi, Declan Delaney and Andrew Hines
Future Internet 2021, 13(2), 50; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi13020050 - 17 Feb 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2605
Abstract
Content is a key influencing factor in Web Quality of Experience (QoE) estimation. A web user’s satisfaction can be influenced by how long it takes to render and visualize the visible parts of the web page in the browser. This is referred to [...] Read more.
Content is a key influencing factor in Web Quality of Experience (QoE) estimation. A web user’s satisfaction can be influenced by how long it takes to render and visualize the visible parts of the web page in the browser. This is referred to as the Above-the-fold (ATF) time. SpeedIndex (SI) has been widely used to estimate perceived web page loading speed of ATF content and a proxy metric for Web QoE estimation. Web application developers have been actively introducing innovative interactive features, such as animated and multimedia content, aiming to capture the users’ attention and improve the functionality and utility of the web applications. However, the literature shows that, for the websites with animated content, the estimated ATF time using the state-of-the-art metrics may not accurately match completed ATF time as perceived by users. This study introduces a new metric, Plausibly Complete Time (PCT), that estimates ATF time for a user’s perception of websites with and without animations. PCT can be integrated with SI and web QoE models. The accuracy of the proposed metric is evaluated based on two publicly available datasets. The proposed metric holds a high positive Spearman’s correlation (rs=0.89) with the Perceived ATF reported by the users for websites with and without animated content. This study demonstrates that using PCT as a KPI in QoE estimation models can improve the robustness of QoE estimation in comparison to using the state-of-the-art ATF time metric. Furthermore, experimental result showed that the estimation of SI using PCT improves the robustness of SI for websites with animated content. The PCT estimation allows web application designers to identify where poor design has significantly increased ATF time and refactor their implementation before it impacts end-user experience. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Quality of Experience (QoE) Management in Softwarized Network Environments)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop