Quality of Service and

Telecommunication
impairments

ETE/EEE 423
Saif Ahmed(SfA)
Introduction
There are a number of generic impairments that will directly or
indirectly affect quality of service. An understanding of these
impairments and their underlying causes are extremely important if
one wants to grasp the entire picture of a telecommunication system.
QoS: Voice, Data and Image
Signal-to-noise ratio (S/N or SNR) is the most widely used parameter for
measurement of signal quality in the field of transmission. Signal-to-noise ratio
expresses in decibels the amount that signal level exceeds the noise level in a
specified bandwidth.
As we review the several types of material to be transmitted on a network, each
will require a minimum S/N to satisfy the user or to make a receiving instrument
function within certain specified criteria. The following are S/N guidelines at the
corresponding receiving devices:
• Voice: 40 dB
• Video (TV): 45 dB
• Data: ∼15 dB, based upon the modulation type and specified error
performance
SNR Example
Oscilloscope presentation shows a
nominal analog voice channel
(300–3400 Hz) with a 1000-Hz test
signal. The vertical scale is signal
power measured in dBm (see
Appendix C for a tutorial on dBs),
and the horizontal scale is
frequency, 0–3400 Hz. The S/N as
illustrated is 10 dB. We can derive
this by inspection or by reading the
levels on the oscilloscope
presentation. The signal level is
+15 dBm; the noise is +5 dBm,
then
Voice Transmission:
Reference equivalent
The ITU in Geneva brought together a group of telephone users to judge
telephone loudness.
The test group, on an individual basis, judged level at the receiving telephone
earpiece. At a 6-dB setting of the attenuator or less, calls were judged too
loud. Better than 99% of the test population judged calls to be satisfactory
with an attenuator setting of 16 dB; 80% rated a call satisfactory with an ORE
36 dB or better, and 33.6% of the test population rated calls with an ORE of
40 dB as unsatisfactory, and so on.
In one CCITT recommendation, 97% of all international calls were
recommended to have an ORE of 33 dB or better. It was found that with this
33-dB value, less than 10% of users were unsatisfied with the level of the
received speech signal.
Corrected Reference Equivalent
Because difficulties were encountered in the use of reference
equivalents, the ORE was replaced by the corrected reference
equivalent (CRE) around 1980. The concept and measurement
technique of the CRE was essentially the same as RE (reference
equivalent), and the decibel remained the measurement unit.
CRE test scores varied somewhat from its RE counterparts. Less than 5
dB (CRE) was too loud; an optimum connection had an RE value of 9 dB
and a range from 7 to 11 dB for CRE. For a 30-dB value of CRE, 40% of a
test population rated the call excellent, whereas 15% rated it poor or
bad.
Loudness Rating
Determination of Loudness Rating.
The designation with notations of loudness rating concept for an
international connection is given in Figure 3.2. It is assumed that
telephone sensitivity, both for the earpiece and microphone, have been
measured. Overall loudness rating (OLR) is calculated using the
following formula:
Data Transmission
TCP and UDP protocol
TCP
Acronym Transmission Control Protocol
Connection Transmission Control Protocol is a
connection-oriented protocol.
Function As a message makes its way across
the internet from one computer to
another. This is connection based.
Usage TCP is suited for applications that
require high reliability, and
transmission time is relatively less
critical.
Use by other protocols HTTP, HTTPs, FTP, SMTP, Telnet
UDP
User Datagram Protocol or Universal
Datagram Protocol
User Datagram Protocol is a
connectionless protocol.
UDP is also a protocol used in message
transport or transfer. This is not
connection based which means that
one program can send a load of
packets to another and that would be
the end of the relationship.
UDP is suitable for applications that
need fast, efficient transmission, such
as games. UDP's stateless nature is also
useful for servers that answer small
queries from huge numbers of clients.
DNS, DHCP, TFTP, SNMP, RIP, VOIP.
TCP and UDP
TCP UDP

Ordering of data packets TCP rearranges data packets in the order UDP has no inherent order as all packets are
specified. independent of each other. If ordering is
required, it has to be managed by the
application layer.
Speed of transfer The speed for TCP is slower than UDP. UDP is faster because error recovery is not
attempted. It is a "best effort" protocol.
Reliability There is absolute guarantee that the data There is no guarantee that the messages or
transferred remains intact and arrives in the packets sent would reach at all.
same order in which it was sent.
Header Size TCP header size is 20 bytes UDP Header size is 8 bytes.
Common Header Fields Source port, Destination port, Check Sum Source port, Destination port, Check Sum
Streaming of data Data is read as a byte stream, no distinguishing Packets are sent individually and are checked
indications are transmitted to signal message for integrity only if they arrive. Packets have
(segment) boundaries. definite boundaries which are honored upon
receipt, meaning a read operation at the
receiver socket will yield an entire message as it
was originally sent.
Weight TCP is heavy-weight. TCP requires three packets UDP is lightweight. There is no ordering of
to set up a socket connection, before any user messages, no tracking connections, etc. It is a
data can be sent. TCP handles reliability and small transport layer designed on top of IP.
congestion control.
TCP and UDP
TCP UDP

Data Flow Control TCP does Flow Control. TCP requires three UDP does not have an option for flow control
packets to set up a socket connection, before
any user data can be sent. TCP handles reliability
and congestion control.

Error Checking TCP does error checking and error recovery. UDP does error checking but simply discards
Erroneous packets are retransmitted from the erroneous packets. Error recovery is not
source to the destination. attempted.

Fields 1. Sequence Number, 2. AcK number, 3. Data 1. Length, 2. Source port, 3. Destination port, 4.
offset, 4. Reserved, 5. Control bit, 6. Window, 7. Check Sum
Urgent Pointer 8. Options, 9. Padding, 10. Check
Sum, 11. Source port, 12. Destination port

Acknowledgement Acknowledgement segments No Acknowledgment

Handshake SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK No handshake (connectionless protocol)
Policer
• The policer takes the tokens out of the bucket and performs the
action that we configured for conforming. If the number of bytes in
the packet is large than the number of tokens in the bucket, the
packet is exceeding. The policer will leave the tokens in the bucket
and performs the action for exceeding packets
QoS for Data Transmission
Hundreds of thousands of data applications exist on the Internet, in all shapes and
sizes. Some are TCP, others are UDP; some are delay sensitive, others are not; some
are bursty in nature, others are steady; some are lightweight, others are bandwidth
hogs—the list goes on.
To make the matter even more complicated, it is crucial to recognize that, just as
applications vary one from another, even the same application can vary
significantly from one version to another.
A brief anecdote speaks to this point: After a southern California semiconductor
company provisioned QoS for Voice and Mission-Critical Data (SAP R/3), everything
went well for about six months. At that point, users began complaining of excessive
delays in completing basic transactions. Operations that previously required a
second or less to complete were taking significantly longer. The application teams
blamed the networking teams, claiming that "QoS was broken."
QoS for data Transmission
The Mission-Critical Data application—in this instance, SAP—had been
upgraded from version 3.0F to 4.6C. As a result, a basic order-entry
transaction required 35 times more traffic than the original version.
Additional provisioning and policy tuning was required to accommodate the
new version of the same application.
Given this reality, the question on how best to provision QoS for data is a
daunting one. After wrestling with this question for several years, the
authors of the QoS Baseline came up with four main classes of data traffic,
according to their general networking characteristics and requirements.
These classes are Best-Effort, Bulk Data, Transactional Data/Interactive Data
and (Locally-Defined) Mission-Critical Data. Each of these classes is examined
in more detail in four sections.
Best effort Data
When addressing the QoS needs of Best-Effort traffic, the following guidelines are recommended:
• Best-Effort traffic should be marked to DSCP 0.
• Adequate bandwidth should be assigned to the Best-Effort class as a whole because the majority
of applications default to this class. It is recommended to reserve at least 25 percent for Best-
Effort traffic.
The Best-Effort class is the default class for all data traffic. Only if an application has been selected
for preferential or deferential treatment is it removed from the default class.
In 2003, one Wall Street financial company did an extensive study to identify and categorize the
number of different applications on its networks. It found more than 3000 discrete applications
traversing its infrastructure. Further research has shown that this is not uncommon for larger
enterprises. Therefore, because enterprises have several hundred—if not thousands of—data
applications running over their networks (of which the majority default to the Best-Effort class),
adequate bandwidth needs to be provisioned for this default class to handle the sheer volume of
applications that are included in it. Otherwise, applications that default to this class easily are
drowned out, typically resulting in an increased number of calls to the networking help desk from
frustrated users. It is therefore recommended that at least 25 percent of a link's bandwidth be
reserved for the default Best-Effort class.
Bulk data
When addressing the QoS needs of Bulk Data traffic, the following guidelines are recommended:
• Bulk Data traffic should be marked to DSCP AF11; excess Bulk Data traffic can be marked down by
a policer to AF12 or AF13.
• Bulk Data traffic should have a moderate bandwidth guarantee but should be constrained from
dominating a link.
The Bulk Data class is intended for applications that are relatively non-interactive and not drop
sensitive, and that typically span their operations over a long period of time as background
occurrences. Such applications include FTP, e-mail, backup operations, database synchronizing or
replicating operations, video content distribution, and any other type of application in which users
typically cannot proceed because they are waiting for the completion of the operation (in other
words, a background operation).
The advantage of provisioning moderate bandwidth guarantees to Bulk Data applications (instead of
applying policers to them) is that Bulk Data applications dynamically can take advantage of unused
bandwidth and thus can speed up their operations during nonpeak periods. This, in turn, reduces
the likelihood that they will bleed into busy periods and absorb inordinate amounts of bandwidth
for their non-time-sensitive operations.
Transactional Data/Interactive Data
When addressing the QoS needs of Transactional Data and Interactive Data traffic, the following
guidelines are recommended:
• Transactional Data traffic should be marked to DSCP AF21; excess Transactional Data traffic can be
marked down by a policer to AF22 or AF23.
• Transactional Data traffic should have an adequate bandwidth guarantee for the interactive,
foreground operations that it supports.
The Transactional Data/Interactive Data class is a combination of two similar types of applications:
Transactional Data client/server applications and interactive messaging applications. For the sake of
simplicity, this class is referred to as Transactional Data only.
The response-time requirement separates Transactional Data client/server applications from
generic client/server applications. For example, with Transactional Data client/server applications
(such as SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle), the user waits for the operation to complete before
proceeding (in other words, the transaction is a foreground operation). E-mail is not considered a
Transactional Data client/server application because most e-mail operations happen in the
background, and users usually do not notice even delays of several hundred milliseconds in
mailspool operations.
Locally Defined Mission-Critical Data
When addressing the QoS needs of Locally-Defined Mission-Critical Data traffic, the
following guidelines are recommended:
• Locally-Defined Mission-Critical Data traffic should be marked to DSCP AF31; excess
Mission-Critical Data traffic can be marked down by a policer to AF32 or AF33. However,
Cisco IP Telephony equipment currently is using DSCP AF31 to mark Call-Signaling traffic;
until all Cisco IPT products mark Call-Signaling to DSCP CS3, a temporary placeholder
code point, DSCP 25, can be used to identify Locally-Defined Mission-Critical Data traffic.
• Locally-Defined Mission-Critical Data traffic should have an adequate bandwidth
guarantee for the interactive, foreground operations that it supports.
The Locally-Defined Mission-Critical class is probably the most misunderstood class
specified in the QoS Baseline. Under the QoS Baseline model, all traffic classes (with the
exclusion of Scavenger and Best-Effort) are considered "critical" to the enterprise. The
term locally defined is used to underscore the purpose of this class: for each enterprise to
have a premium class of service for a select subset of its Transactional Data applications
that have the highest business priority for it.
Video
• Television picture quality is subjective to the viewer. It is based on S/N
of the picture channel. The S/N values derived from two agencies are
provided below. The first are called “TASO ratings.” TASO stands for
Television Allocations Study Organization.