Intern
Lehrstuhl für Informatik III

Crowdsourcing-based measurement methodology of user-oriented quality of service and network quality in 5G mobile networks (5GQMON)

Partner

Nokia Solutions and Networks (Munich, Germany)
Infosim (Würzburg, Germany)
Tutela (Victoria, Canada)

Funder R&D program "Information and Communication Technology"
of the State of Bavaria, Germany
Funded period May 2021 - April 2024
Researcher

Prof. Dr. Tobias Hoßfeld
Anika Seufert M.Sc.
Frank Loh M.Sc.

Project Description

The massive number of physical and virtual devices, industrial use cases, and digital smart city development concepts requires new methods for differentiated measurement of the network quality of 5G mobile networks. This project is about investigating, evaluating, and defining crowdsourcing-based measurement methods to evaluate mobile networks on a large scale according to end users' quality of experience (QoE) in the context of current developments and use cases in the field of new 5G networks. Due to the heterogeneous usage and architecture of the networks, measurements from the end-user or end-device perspective are necessary, which requires crowdsourcing-based measurement methods at the service and application level. 

The project partners Nokia Solutions and Networks, Infosim GmbH & Co. KG and the University of Würzburg are technically suitable for the tasks planned in the project. Nokia is a worldwide commercial manufacturer of hardware and software in the field of mobile communications. Infosim offers network monitoring and management solutions for quality of service (QoS) monitoring using, for example, distributed agents. The Chair of Communication Networks (JMU Würzburg) is active in the field of performance evaluation, modeling, and measurement of communication networks. In the course of the project, existing network data as well as crowd data will be analyzed, allowing the determination of 4G and 5G network quality for the geographical area of Bavaria. The crowd data will be provided by associated partner Tutela, which is commercially successful in the emerging field of crowdsourcing-based measurements. The goal is to determine and explore 4G and 5G network quality for the geographical area of Bavaria in terms of end users satisfaction, and to develop a measurement methodology for QoS and QoE for selected use cases. This also has a sustainable impact on private campus networks in the industrial environment.
 

Project Objectives

Performance monitoring for mobile networks

  • Consideration of new heterogeneous use cases
  • Diverse, different requirements in the network in 5G
  • Passive or active agents or measurement tools at user's site

Quality of Experience and user-centered understanding of network quality

  • Collection and analysis of meaningful data in mobile networks is key to assessing network performance
  • Providers collect QoS on network layer, but crowdsourced network measurements allow insight on user side

Crowdsourcing 

  • Allows to get insights beyond network layer, i.e. application layer and user level data towards Quality of Experience
  • Large scale measurements and comprehensive
  • Much better holistic understanding of quality experienced by end users

Internet of Things

  • Adds the dimension of machine-driven requirements
  • Massive number of devices with possibly high coverage
  • Lack of methodology for performance evaluation