EVS Advances in VoLTE Networks Stefan Bruhn, Ericsson Research

1. © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-16 | Page 1
EVS Advances in VoLTE Networks
Stefan Bruhn
Ericsson Research

2. © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-16 | Page 3
Evolution of voice Service
HD voice
•
116 commercial HD voice networks in 75 countries – over 2G/3G/LTE*
•
30% more mobile operators offering HD voice than a year ago.*
•
More than 300 HD voice phones launched*
* GSA Sept 2014 http://www.gsacom.com/news/gsa_415.php
EVS – Enhanced Voice Services
•
The next generation telecom voice codec for voice and music for VoLTE
•
Standardized in 3GPP
Traditional (narrowband) voice service
•
World wide deployment in all mobile and fixed network
Further reading: http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/whitepapers/wp-evolved-hd-voice-for-lte.pdf

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HD voice - successful operator business
Orange first in the world to launch mobile HD voice in 2009 Orange HD voice launched in 17 networks
Orange studies from 2012 show that consumers with HD voice phones
•
Increase voice usage with +3%
•
56% rate the operator network quality as better than before
•
73% are more encouraged to stay with the operator
•
88% recommend others to buy an HD voice phone
Even later studies show that HD voice
•
Leads to improved user satisfaction that can turn into revenue either

Directly by charging (monthly fee or per minute charge), or

Indirectly due to reduced churn

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Audio bandwidth for mobile voice services
Frequency [Hz]
3400
7000
50
300
Wideband
Lower Area
More natural sound
Mid Area
More natural voice, better understanding and voice recognition
Narrowband
Super Wideband
14000
Upper Area
Natural sound and high quality music
AMR
AMR-WB
EVS
Fullband
Traditional telephony quality

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Voice capacity in mobile network
Voice/music quality
AMR
(@12.2)
Narrowband
EVS codec enhances
HD voice by:
–Increasing the voice capacity with same or even better quality
–Enhancing the voice and music quality with same capacity
–Can be used for high quality music services, preferably in fullband mode at rates > 13.2 kpbs
Super
Wideband
EVS
(@13.2)
AMR-WB
(@12.65)
Wideband
EVS
(< 13.2)
Fullband
EVS
(>13.2)
EVS
(<13.2)
EVS
(< 13.2)
Benefits of EVS Codec

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Transport bit rate (kbps)
Narrow band 2.5G/3G voice (AMR)
HD voice (AMR-WB)
HD voice evolution (EVS)
Half rate
7.2
Regular bandwidth
13.2
(1
Possible future use
24.4
(3
Original:
Voice demo
Evolved HD voice for superior voice quality
(1 increased quality with same capacity (2 increased capacity (3 extraordinary quality

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Transport bit rate (kbps)
Narrow band 2.5G/3G voice (AMR)
HD voice (AMR-WB)
HD voice evolution (EVS)
Half rate
7.2
Regular bandwidth
13.2
Possible future use
24.4
Music demo
Excellent music experience in LTE/VoLTE networks
(1 increased quality with same capacity (2 increased capacity (3 extraordinary quality
(1
(3
Original:

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Benefits of HD Voice and its Evolution
Excellent voice and music experience
CONSUMER BENEFITS
•
Superior voice quality
•
Excellent music quality
•
Stereo sound
OPERATOR BENEFITS
•
Globally interoperable – based on 3GPP standards
•
Improved telecom grade quality with same bandwidth
•
Seamless interworking with legacy networks
LTE
2G/3G
VoLTE
LTE
EVS codec ↔ AMR-WB
VoLTE
LTE
EVS codec

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EVS Codec features
Feature
Property
Narrowband (NB) operation
5.9 kbps (VBR), 7.2-24.4 kbps
Wideband (WB) operation
5.9 kbps (VBR), 7.2-128 kbps
Enhanced interoperation with all AMR-WB modes: 6.6 – 23.85 kbps
Super-Wideband (SWB) operation
Bit rates (kbps): 9.6-128
Fullband (FB) operation
Bit rates (kbps): 16.4-128
Smart bandwidth control
Optimized bandwidth operation at each rate
VAD/DTX/CNG
Available at all rates, required for 5.9kbps VBR
Channel-aware mode
Available at 13.2 WB and SWB
Packet-Loss-Concealment
Cutting-edge, included in standard
Jitter buffer management (JBM)
Cutting-edge, included in standard
Rate adaptation support
Seamless rate switching on 20ms frame basis
Audio sampling rate conversion
Decouples input/output audio sampling rates from codec bandwidth

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Technology
›
Encoder structure

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Technology
›
LP based coding

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Technology
›
Frequency domain coding

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3GPP Standardization
›
Rigorous process
–
Open, transparent, fair and constructive
–
Enabling mobile industry, with its many competing players, to successfully develop and standardize the new EVS codec
›
Working principles
–
Pre-study defined work items objectives
–
Upfront definition of Terms of Reference
–
Open process to any 3GPP member
–
Well-defined standardization phases
–
All standardization decisions unanimously agreed in 3GPP/SA4

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EVS testing Campaign
›
Unprecedented test budget exceeding €1.1M
›
70 subjective performance tests using independent test labs
›
Objective requirements to be met simultaneously
›
Selection testing
–
Processing and test results analysis done by independent labs
–
Subjective performance results
›
Only 0.5% systematic requirement failures (2 out of 389)
›
Only 13% of objectives systematically not met (38 out of 295)

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Performance
WB Mixed/Music SWB Mixed/Music
SWB Clean speech SWB noise/FER
NB Clean speech WB Clean speech
Test results are courtesy of Fraunhofer, Nokia and Qualcomm; 3GPP selection test results available under http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/tsg_sa/WG4_CODEC/TSGS4_80bis/Docs/S4-141065.zip

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EVS Standard
›
Approved specifications
–
TS 26.441 General Overview
–
TS 26.442 ANSI C code (fixed-point)
–
TS 26.444 Test Sequences
–
TS 26.445 Detailed Algorithmic Description
›
Except Annex with EVS RTP payload format
–
TS 26.446 AMR-WB Backward Compatible Functions
–
TS 26.447 Error Concealment of Lost Packets
–
TS 26.448 Jitter Buffer Management
–
TS 26.449 Comfort Noise Generation (CNG) Aspects
–
TS 26.450 Discontinuous Transmission (DTX)
–
TS 26.451 Voice Activity Detection (VAD)
›
Specifications to be finalized in December
–
TS 26.443 ANSI C code (floating-point)
–
TS 26.114 CR on inclusion of EVS into MTSI
›
SA already approved that MTSI clients may use the EVS AMR-WB IO mode as alternative implementation of AMR-WB, when the EVS codec is supported.
›
Decision on EVS codec status (mandatory/recommended/optional) still open.
–
TS 26.445 CR introducing Annex with EVS RTP payload format
–
TR 26.952 EVS Codec Performance Characterization
–
TS 2X.XXX CRs to CT3/CT4 specifications on introduction support of EVS in 3GPP speech services incl. SRVCC
›
WID on EVS for CS ongoing, targeting beyond Rel-12

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Licensing
›
3GPP IPR Policy applies
–
All 3GPP members are obliged to declare any potential essential IPR
–
All EVS codec proponents provided an acceptable IPR declaration
–
EVS codec essential patents will be licensed under FRAND terms

18. © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-16 | Page 19
•3GPP has selected new EVS codec as standard for 3GPP Release 12
•Enabling Enhanced Voice Services for MTSI, e.g. VoLTE
•Standard is available NOW!
EVS Codec
•Unprecedented sound experience both for speech and music
•Increased network efficiency for operators
•Provides HD voice evolution path with full interoperability to AMR-WB
Mobile Industry
•12 major infrastructure, chipset, device, technology vendors and operators created the standard together and are committed to it
•Deployments wait in 3GPP, fixed access, Internet, WebRTC
•Ericsson offers to host an IMTC IMS AG event for EVS VoLTE interop test in 2015.
Summary

19. © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-16 | Page 20
Clean speech ‡
Noisy speech ‡
Mixed/music ‡
… and Opus†?
†Opus 1.1 from http://www.opus-codec.org/ ‡Courtesy of Nokia

20. © Ericsson AB 2014 | 2014-10-16 | Page 21
… and Opus†?
Clean speech ‡
Noisy speech ‡
Mixed/music ‡
†Opus 1.1 from http://www.opus-codec.org/ ‡Courtesy of Nokia